diff --git a/include/qemu/osdep.h b/include/qemu/osdep.h
index c2c7fe5c47..0a54bf7be8 100644
--- a/include/qemu/osdep.h
+++ b/include/qemu/osdep.h
@@ -195,6 +195,9 @@ extern "C" {
 #ifndef MAP_FIXED_NOREPLACE
 #define MAP_FIXED_NOREPLACE 0
 #endif
+#ifndef MAP_NORESERVE
+#define MAP_NORESERVE 0
+#endif
 #ifndef ENOMEDIUM
 #define ENOMEDIUM ENODEV
 #endif
diff --git a/softmmu/physmem.c b/softmmu/physmem.c
index 11ea8e19a6..9b171c9dbe 100644
--- a/softmmu/physmem.c
+++ b/softmmu/physmem.c
@@ -2251,6 +2251,7 @@ void qemu_ram_remap(ram_addr_t addr, ram_addr_t length)
                 flags = MAP_FIXED;
                 flags |= block->flags & RAM_SHARED ?
                          MAP_SHARED : MAP_PRIVATE;
+                flags |= block->flags & RAM_NORESERVE ? MAP_NORESERVE : 0;
                 if (block->fd >= 0) {
                     area = mmap(vaddr, length, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
                                 flags, block->fd, offset);
diff --git a/util/mmap-alloc.c b/util/mmap-alloc.c
index d0cf4aaee5..838e286ce5 100644
--- a/util/mmap-alloc.c
+++ b/util/mmap-alloc.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "qemu/mmap-alloc.h"
 #include "qemu/host-utils.h"
+#include "qemu/cutils.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
 
 #define HUGETLBFS_MAGIC       0x958458f6
@@ -83,6 +84,70 @@ size_t qemu_mempath_getpagesize(const char *mem_path)
     return qemu_real_host_page_size;
 }
 
+#define OVERCOMMIT_MEMORY_PATH "/proc/sys/vm/overcommit_memory"
+static bool map_noreserve_effective(int fd, uint32_t qemu_map_flags)
+{
+#if defined(__linux__)
+    const bool readonly = qemu_map_flags & QEMU_MAP_READONLY;
+    const bool shared = qemu_map_flags & QEMU_MAP_SHARED;
+    gchar *content = NULL;
+    const char *endptr;
+    unsigned int tmp;
+
+    /*
+     * hugeltb accounting is different than ordinary swap reservation:
+     * a) Hugetlb pages from the pool are reserved for both private and
+     *    shared mappings. For shared mappings, all mappers have to specify
+     *    MAP_NORESERVE.
+     * b) MAP_NORESERVE is not affected by /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_memory.
+     */
+    if (qemu_fd_getpagesize(fd) != qemu_real_host_page_size) {
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * Accountable mappings in the kernel that can be affected by MAP_NORESEVE
+     * are private writable mappings (see mm/mmap.c:accountable_mapping() in
+     * Linux). For all shared or readonly mappings, MAP_NORESERVE is always
+     * implicitly active -- no reservation; this includes shmem. The only
+     * exception is shared anonymous memory, it is accounted like private
+     * anonymous memory.
+     */
+    if (readonly || (shared && fd >= 0)) {
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * MAP_NORESERVE is globally ignored for applicable !hugetlb mappings when
+     * memory overcommit is set to "never". Sparse memory regions aren't really
+     * possible in this system configuration.
+     *
+     * Bail out now instead of silently committing way more memory than
+     * currently desired by the user.
+     */
+    if (g_file_get_contents(OVERCOMMIT_MEMORY_PATH, &content, NULL, NULL) &&
+        !qemu_strtoui(content, &endptr, 0, &tmp) &&
+        (!endptr || *endptr == '\n')) {
+        if (tmp == 2) {
+            error_report("Skipping reservation of swap space is not supported:"
+                         " \"" OVERCOMMIT_MEMORY_PATH "\" is \"2\"");
+            return false;
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
+    /* this interface has been around since Linux 2.6 */
+    error_report("Skipping reservation of swap space is not supported:"
+                 " Could not read: \"" OVERCOMMIT_MEMORY_PATH "\"");
+    return false;
+#endif
+    /*
+     * E.g., FreeBSD used to define MAP_NORESERVE, never implemented it,
+     * and removed it a while ago.
+     */
+    error_report("Skipping reservation of swap space is not supported");
+    return false;
+}
+
 /*
  * Reserve a new memory region of the requested size to be used for mapping
  * from the given fd (if any).
@@ -131,13 +196,13 @@ static void *mmap_activate(void *ptr, size_t size, int fd,
     int flags = MAP_FIXED;
     void *activated_ptr;
 
-    if (noreserve) {
-        error_report("Skipping reservation of swap space is not supported");
+    if (noreserve && !map_noreserve_effective(fd, qemu_map_flags)) {
         return MAP_FAILED;
     }
 
     flags |= fd == -1 ? MAP_ANONYMOUS : 0;
     flags |= shared ? MAP_SHARED : MAP_PRIVATE;
+    flags |= noreserve ? MAP_NORESERVE : 0;
     if (shared && sync) {
         map_sync_flags = MAP_SYNC | MAP_SHARED_VALIDATE;
     }