diff --git a/package/qemu/qemu.mk b/package/qemu/qemu.mk
index 9cff5ede95..6c5ddf3357 100644
--- a/package/qemu/qemu.mk
+++ b/package/qemu/qemu.mk
@@ -59,6 +59,34 @@ HOST_QEMU_ARCH = ppc
 endif
 HOST_QEMU_TARGETS = $(HOST_QEMU_ARCH)-linux-user
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_QEMU),y)
+HOST_QEMU_HOST_SYSTEM_TYPE = $(shell uname -s)
+ifneq ($(HOST_QEMU_HOST_SYSTEM_TYPE),Linux)
+$(error "qemu-user can only be used on Linux hosts")
+endif
+
+HOST_QEMU_HOST_SYSTEM_VERSION_MAJOR = $(shell uname -r | cut -f1 -d'.')
+HOST_QEMU_HOST_SYSTEM_VERSION_MINOR = $(shell uname -r | cut -f2 -d'.')
+HOST_QEMU_TARGET_SYSTEM_VERSION_MAJOR = $(shell echo $(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HEADERS_AT_LEAST) | cut -f1 -d'.')
+HOST_QEMU_TARGET_SYSTEM_VERSION_MINOR = $(shell echo $(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HEADERS_AT_LEAST) | cut -f2 -d'.')
+HOST_QEMU_COMPARE_VERSION_MAJOR = $(shell test $(HOST_QEMU_HOST_SYSTEM_VERSION_MAJOR) -ge $(HOST_QEMU_TARGET_SYSTEM_VERSION_MAJOR) && echo OK)
+HOST_QEMU_COMPARE_VERSION_MINOR = $(shell test $(HOST_QEMU_HOST_SYSTEM_VERSION_MINOR) -ge $(HOST_QEMU_TARGET_SYSTEM_VERSION_MINOR) && echo OK)
+
+#
+# The principle of qemu-user is that it emulates the instructions of
+# the target architecture when running the binary, and then when this
+# binary does a system call, it converts this system call into a
+# system call on the host machine. This mechanism makes an assumption:
+# that the target binary will not do system calls that do not exist on
+# the host. This basically requires that the target binary should be
+# built with kernel headers that are older or the same as the kernel
+# version running on the host machine.
+#
+ifneq ($(HOST_QEMU_COMPARE_VERSION_MAJOR)$(HOST_QEMU_COMPARE_VERSION_MINOR),OKOK)
+$(error "Refusing to build qemu-user: target Linux version newer than host's.")
+endif
+endif
+
 define HOST_QEMU_CONFIGURE_CMDS
 	cd $(@D); $(HOST_CONFIGURE_OPTS) ./configure    \
 		--target-list="$(HOST_QEMU_TARGETS)"    \