diff --git a/hw/i386/pc.c b/hw/i386/pc.c
index 9664822fc8..7d8f351b1d 100644
--- a/hw/i386/pc.c
+++ b/hw/i386/pc.c
@@ -1299,7 +1299,26 @@ static void load_linux(PCMachineState *pcms,
 #endif
 
     /* highest address for loading the initrd */
-    if (protocol >= 0x203) {
+    if (protocol >= 0x20c &&
+        lduw_p(header+0x236) & XLF_CAN_BE_LOADED_ABOVE_4G) {
+        /*
+         * Linux has supported initrd up to 4 GB for a very long time (2007,
+         * long before XLF_CAN_BE_LOADED_ABOVE_4G which was added in 2013),
+         * though it only sets initrd_max to 2 GB to "work around bootloader
+         * bugs". Luckily, QEMU firmware(which does something like bootloader)
+         * has supported this.
+         *
+         * It's believed that if XLF_CAN_BE_LOADED_ABOVE_4G is set, initrd can
+         * be loaded into any address.
+         *
+         * In addition, initrd_max is uint32_t simply because QEMU doesn't
+         * support the 64-bit boot protocol (specifically the ext_ramdisk_image
+         * field).
+         *
+         * Therefore here just limit initrd_max to UINT32_MAX simply as well.
+         */
+        initrd_max = UINT32_MAX;
+    } else if (protocol >= 0x203) {
         initrd_max = ldl_p(header+0x22c);
     } else {
         initrd_max = 0x37ffffff;