diff --git a/arch/arm64/Kconfig b/arch/arm64/Kconfig
index 8cc62289a63ed9958c9623acaa5462048cc9287b..cf118d93290da323fbaca4e1d89fdbd19967ddcf 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/arm64/Kconfig
@@ -750,6 +750,19 @@ config ARM64_LSE_ATOMICS
 	  not support these instructions and requires the kernel to be
 	  built with binutils >= 2.25.
 
+config ARM64_VHE
+	bool "Enable support for Virtualization Host Extensions (VHE)"
+	default y
+	help
+	  Virtualization Host Extensions (VHE) allow the kernel to run
+	  directly at EL2 (instead of EL1) on processors that support
+	  it. This leads to better performance for KVM, as they reduce
+	  the cost of the world switch.
+
+	  Selecting this option allows the VHE feature to be detected
+	  at runtime, and does not affect processors that do not
+	  implement this feature.
+
 endmenu
 
 endmenu
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/head.S b/arch/arm64/kernel/head.S
index 917d98108b3f05d9b1013020f9f576a3db776bc6..6f2f37743d3b34994b9d91fb1f99890910accbad 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/head.S
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/head.S
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include <asm/cache.h>
 #include <asm/cputype.h>
 #include <asm/kernel-pgtable.h>
+#include <asm/kvm_arm.h>
 #include <asm/memory.h>
 #include <asm/pgtable-hwdef.h>
 #include <asm/pgtable.h>
@@ -464,9 +465,27 @@ CPU_LE(	bic	x0, x0, #(3 << 24)	)	// Clear the EE and E0E bits for EL1
 	isb
 	ret
 
+2:
+#ifdef CONFIG_ARM64_VHE
+	/*
+	 * Check for VHE being present. For the rest of the EL2 setup,
+	 * x2 being non-zero indicates that we do have VHE, and that the
+	 * kernel is intended to run at EL2.
+	 */
+	mrs	x2, id_aa64mmfr1_el1
+	ubfx	x2, x2, #8, #4
+#else
+	mov	x2, xzr
+#endif
+
 	/* Hyp configuration. */
-2:	mov	x0, #(1 << 31)			// 64-bit EL1
+	mov	x0, #HCR_RW			// 64-bit EL1
+	cbz	x2, set_hcr
+	orr	x0, x0, #HCR_TGE		// Enable Host Extensions
+	orr	x0, x0, #HCR_E2H
+set_hcr:
 	msr	hcr_el2, x0
+	isb
 
 	/* Generic timers. */
 	mrs	x0, cnthctl_el2
@@ -526,6 +545,13 @@ CPU_LE(	movk	x0, #0x30d0, lsl #16	)	// Clear EE and E0E on LE systems
 	/* Stage-2 translation */
 	msr	vttbr_el2, xzr
 
+	cbz	x2, install_el2_stub
+
+	mov	w20, #BOOT_CPU_MODE_EL2		// This CPU booted in EL2
+	isb
+	ret
+
+install_el2_stub:
 	/* Hypervisor stub */
 	adrp	x0, __hyp_stub_vectors
 	add	x0, x0, #:lo12:__hyp_stub_vectors