diff --git a/arch/openrisc/include/asm/processor.h b/arch/openrisc/include/asm/processor.h
index 3b736e74e6ed..ad268dee0b58 100644
--- a/arch/openrisc/include/asm/processor.h
+++ b/arch/openrisc/include/asm/processor.h
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
 		   | SPR_SR_DCE | SPR_SR_SM)
 #define USER_SR   (SPR_SR_DME | SPR_SR_IME | SPR_SR_ICE \
 		   | SPR_SR_DCE | SPR_SR_IEE | SPR_SR_TEE)
+/* SR bits user space may change via sigreturn, the rest stay kernel owned */
+#define SPR_SR_USER_MASK  (SPR_SR_F | SPR_SR_CY | SPR_SR_OV)
 
 /*
  * User space process size. This is hardcoded into a few places,
diff --git a/arch/openrisc/kernel/signal.c b/arch/openrisc/kernel/signal.c
index e2f21a5d8ad9..7333d3e2343d 100644
--- a/arch/openrisc/kernel/signal.c
+++ b/arch/openrisc/kernel/signal.c
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ asmlinkage int do_work_pending(struct pt_regs *regs, unsigned int thread_flags,
 static int restore_sigcontext(struct pt_regs *regs,
 			      struct sigcontext __user *sc)
 {
+	unsigned long old_sr = regs->sr;
 	int err = 0;
 
 	/* Always make any pending restarted system calls return -EINTR */
@@ -57,8 +58,8 @@ static int restore_sigcontext(struct pt_regs *regs,
 	err |= __copy_from_user(&regs->sr, &sc->regs.sr, sizeof(unsigned long));
 	err |= __copy_from_user(&regs->fpcsr, &sc->fpcsr, sizeof(unsigned long));
 
-	/* make sure the SM-bit is cleared so user-mode cannot fool us */
-	regs->sr &= ~SPR_SR_SM;
+	/* keep the privileged SR bits kernel owned, restore only user flags */
+	regs->sr = (old_sr & ~SPR_SR_USER_MASK) | (regs->sr & SPR_SR_USER_MASK);
 
 	regs->orig_gpr11 = -1;	/* Avoid syscall restart checks */