diff --git a/arch/arm/cpu/arm1136/start.S b/arch/arm/cpu/arm1136/start.S
index 922d01c..41eb82d 100644
--- a/arch/arm/cpu/arm1136/start.S
+++ b/arch/arm/cpu/arm1136/start.S
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@
 #endif
 	sub	sp, r0, #12		/* leave 3 words for abort-stack    */
 #endif	/* CONFIG_PRELOADER */
+	bic	sp, sp, #7		/* 8-byte alignment for ABI compliance */
 
 clear_bss:
 	ldr	r0, _bss_start		/* find start of bss segment	    */