diff --git a/arch/mips/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S b/arch/mips/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
index ff699dbb99f730b0a3da89883f96788ee254d160..2ad0cedf29fee2236c32d7e1ec1cd3ac34b0b0ad 100644
--- a/arch/mips/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
+++ b/arch/mips/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ SECTIONS
   .con_initcall.init : { *(.con_initcall.init) }
   __con_initcall_end = .;
   SECURITY_INIT
+    /* .exit.text is discarded at runtime, not link time, to deal with
+     references from .rodata */
+  .exit.text : { *(.exit.text) }
   . = ALIGN(_PAGE_SIZE);
   __initramfs_start = .;
   .init.ramfs : { *(.init.ramfs) }
@@ -133,7 +136,6 @@ SECTIONS
 
   /* Sections to be discarded */
   /DISCARD/ : {
-        *(.exit.text)
         *(.exit.data)
         *(.exitcall.exit)