diff --git a/drivers/rtc/Kconfig b/drivers/rtc/Kconfig
index 243edd37c0d7..1e863f1d36fd 100644
--- a/drivers/rtc/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/rtc/Kconfig
@@ -30,6 +30,27 @@ config RTC_HCTOSYS
 	  the value read from a specified RTC device. This is useful to avoid
 	  unnecessary fsck runs at boot time, and to network better.
 
+config RTC_HCTOSYS_TIME32_LIMIT
+	bool "Reject RTC dates after the 2038 cutoff"
+	depends on RTC_HCTOSYS && COMPAT_32BIT_TIME && !64BIT
+	default y
+	help
+	  Reject RTC dates after 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038 when
+	  initializing the system clock in order to work around broken
+	  RTC implementations that produce nondeterministic timestamps
+	  without a working backup battery.
+
+	  A rejected date leaves system time unchanged, normally near
+	  the Unix epoch, and the RTC's hctosys sysfs attribute reads
+	  0. Userspace must supply the time if no other source has
+	  initialized it.
+
+	  Say Y here if the kernel may have to run old time32 userspace on
+	  hardware that can produce unpredictable RTC timestamps.  If the
+	  kernel is intended to only run time64 compatible userspace and
+	  continue working past 2038, you must pick N here in order to
+	  have a working RTC_HCTOSYS functionality.
+
 config RTC_HCTOSYS_DEVICE
 	string "RTC used to set the system time"
 	depends on RTC_HCTOSYS
diff --git a/drivers/rtc/class.c b/drivers/rtc/class.c
index 01ba04028f1f..18ea141ab8c2 100644
--- a/drivers/rtc/class.c
+++ b/drivers/rtc/class.c
@@ -72,12 +72,14 @@ static void rtc_hctosys(struct rtc_device *rtc)
 
 	tv64.tv_sec = rtc_tm_to_time64(&tm);
 
-#if BITS_PER_LONG == 32
-	if (tv64.tv_sec > INT_MAX) {
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RTC_HCTOSYS_TIME32_LIMIT) &&
+	    tv64.tv_sec > INT_MAX) {
+		dev_warn(rtc->dev.parent,
+			 "hctosys: rejecting %ptR UTC due to CONFIG_RTC_HCTOSYS_TIME32_LIMIT=y\n",
+			 &tm);
 		err = -ERANGE;
 		goto err_read;
 	}
-#endif
 
 	err = do_settimeofday64(&tv64);