diff --git a/hw/core/loader.c b/hw/core/loader.c
index ee5abd6eb7..9d1af1f6f3 100644
--- a/hw/core/loader.c
+++ b/hw/core/loader.c
@@ -435,6 +435,19 @@ int load_elf_as(const char *filename,
                 uint64_t *highaddr, int big_endian, int elf_machine,
                 int clear_lsb, int data_swab, AddressSpace *as)
 {
+    return load_elf_ram(filename, translate_fn, translate_opaque,
+                        pentry, lowaddr, highaddr, big_endian, elf_machine,
+                        clear_lsb, data_swab, as, true);
+}
+
+/* return < 0 if error, otherwise the number of bytes loaded in memory */
+int load_elf_ram(const char *filename,
+                 uint64_t (*translate_fn)(void *, uint64_t),
+                 void *translate_opaque, uint64_t *pentry, uint64_t *lowaddr,
+                 uint64_t *highaddr, int big_endian, int elf_machine,
+                 int clear_lsb, int data_swab, AddressSpace *as,
+                 bool load_rom)
+{
     int fd, data_order, target_data_order, must_swab, ret = ELF_LOAD_FAILED;
     uint8_t e_ident[EI_NIDENT];
 
@@ -473,11 +486,11 @@ int load_elf_as(const char *filename,
     if (e_ident[EI_CLASS] == ELFCLASS64) {
         ret = load_elf64(filename, fd, translate_fn, translate_opaque, must_swab,
                          pentry, lowaddr, highaddr, elf_machine, clear_lsb,
-                         data_swab, as);
+                         data_swab, as, load_rom);
     } else {
         ret = load_elf32(filename, fd, translate_fn, translate_opaque, must_swab,
                          pentry, lowaddr, highaddr, elf_machine, clear_lsb,
-                         data_swab, as);
+                         data_swab, as, load_rom);
     }
 
  fail:
diff --git a/include/hw/elf_ops.h b/include/hw/elf_ops.h
index 25659b93be..a172a6068a 100644
--- a/include/hw/elf_ops.h
+++ b/include/hw/elf_ops.h
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ static int glue(load_elf, SZ)(const char *name, int fd,
                               int must_swab, uint64_t *pentry,
                               uint64_t *lowaddr, uint64_t *highaddr,
                               int elf_machine, int clear_lsb, int data_swab,
-                              AddressSpace *as)
+                              AddressSpace *as, bool load_rom)
 {
     struct elfhdr ehdr;
     struct elf_phdr *phdr = NULL, *ph;
@@ -403,10 +403,15 @@ static int glue(load_elf, SZ)(const char *name, int fd,
                 *pentry = ehdr.e_entry - ph->p_vaddr + ph->p_paddr;
             }
 
-            snprintf(label, sizeof(label), "phdr #%d: %s", i, name);
+            if (load_rom) {
+                snprintf(label, sizeof(label), "phdr #%d: %s", i, name);
 
-            /* rom_add_elf_program() seize the ownership of 'data' */
-            rom_add_elf_program(label, data, file_size, mem_size, addr, as);
+                /* rom_add_elf_program() seize the ownership of 'data' */
+                rom_add_elf_program(label, data, file_size, mem_size, addr, as);
+            } else {
+                cpu_physical_memory_write(addr, data, file_size);
+                g_free(data);
+            }
 
             total_size += mem_size;
             if (addr < low)
diff --git a/include/hw/loader.h b/include/hw/loader.h
index 0dbd8d6bf3..3df4d73398 100644
--- a/include/hw/loader.h
+++ b/include/hw/loader.h
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ int load_image_gzipped(const char *filename, hwaddr addr, uint64_t max_sz);
 #define ELF_LOAD_WRONG_ENDIAN -4
 const char *load_elf_strerror(int error);
 
-/** load_elf_as:
+/** load_elf_ram:
  * @filename: Path of ELF file
  * @translate_fn: optional function to translate load addresses
  * @translate_opaque: opaque data passed to @translate_fn
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ const char *load_elf_strerror(int error);
  *             words and 3 for within doublewords.
  * @as: The AddressSpace to load the ELF to. The value of address_space_memory
  *      is used if nothing is supplied here.
+ * @load_rom : Load ELF binary as ROM
  *
  * Load an ELF file's contents to the emulated system's address space.
  * Clients may optionally specify a callback to perform address
@@ -93,6 +94,16 @@ const char *load_elf_strerror(int error);
  * If @elf_machine is EM_NONE then the machine type will be read from the
  * ELF header and no checks will be carried out against the machine type.
  */
+int load_elf_ram(const char *filename,
+                 uint64_t (*translate_fn)(void *, uint64_t),
+                 void *translate_opaque, uint64_t *pentry, uint64_t *lowaddr,
+                 uint64_t *highaddr, int big_endian, int elf_machine,
+                 int clear_lsb, int data_swab, AddressSpace *as,
+                 bool load_rom);
+
+/** load_elf_as:
+ * Same as load_elf_ram(), but always loads the elf as ROM
+ */
 int load_elf_as(const char *filename,
                 uint64_t (*translate_fn)(void *, uint64_t),
                 void *translate_opaque, uint64_t *pentry, uint64_t *lowaddr,
