diff --git a/fs/cpio/cpio.mk b/fs/cpio/cpio.mk
index aa4d947fa5..1f0cafe62f 100644
--- a/fs/cpio/cpio.mk
+++ b/fs/cpio/cpio.mk
@@ -15,14 +15,16 @@ endef
 else
 # devtmpfs does not get automounted when initramfs is used.
 # Add a pre-init script to mount it before running init
+# We must have /dev/console very early, even before /init runs,
+# for stdin/stdout/stderr
 define ROOTFS_CPIO_ADD_INIT
 	if [ ! -e $(TARGET_DIR)/init ]; then \
 		$(INSTALL) -m 0755 fs/cpio/init $(TARGET_DIR)/init; \
 	fi
+	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)/dev
+	mknod -m 0622 $(TARGET_DIR)/dev/console c 5 1
 endef
 
-PACKAGES_PERMISSIONS_TABLE += /dev/console c 622 0 0 5 1 - - -$(sep)
-
 endif # BR2_ROOTFS_DEVICE_CREATION_STATIC
 
 ROOTFS_CPIO_PRE_GEN_HOOKS += ROOTFS_CPIO_ADD_INIT