diff --git a/target/linux/malta/be/config-default b/target/linux/malta/be/config-default
index f51301a058..5586be6b7c 100644
--- a/target/linux/malta/be/config-default
+++ b/target/linux/malta/be/config-default
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 CONFIG_CPU_BIG_ENDIAN=y
 # CONFIG_CPU_LITTLE_ENDIAN is not set
 CONFIG_CPU_MIPS32_R2=y
+CONFIG_HIGHMEM=y
diff --git a/target/linux/malta/le/config-default b/target/linux/malta/le/config-default
index aab569be3b..2b42a6b5b2 100644
--- a/target/linux/malta/le/config-default
+++ b/target/linux/malta/le/config-default
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 # CONFIG_CPU_BIG_ENDIAN is not set
 CONFIG_CPU_LITTLE_ENDIAN=y
 CONFIG_CPU_MIPS32_R2=y
+CONFIG_HIGHMEM=y