diff --git a/src/mem/physical.cc b/src/mem/physical.cc
index a7e261ff5a..08707ebb8a 100644
--- a/src/mem/physical.cc
+++ b/src/mem/physical.cc
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 #include "debug/Checkpoint.hh"
 #include "mem/abstract_mem.hh"
 #include "sim/serialize.hh"
+#include "sim/sim_exit.hh"
 
 /**
  * On Linux, MAP_NORESERVE allow us to simulate a very large memory
@@ -77,10 +78,16 @@ namespace memory
 PhysicalMemory::PhysicalMemory(const std::string& _name,
                                const std::vector<AbstractMemory*>& _memories,
                                bool mmap_using_noreserve,
-                               const std::string& shared_backstore) :
+                               const std::string& shared_backstore,
+                               bool auto_unlink_shared_backstore) :
     _name(_name), size(0), mmapUsingNoReserve(mmap_using_noreserve),
     sharedBackstore(shared_backstore), sharedBackstoreSize(0)
 {
+    // Register cleanup callback if requested.
+    if (auto_unlink_shared_backstore && !sharedBackstore.empty()) {
+        registerExitCallback([=]() { shm_unlink(shared_backstore.c_str()); });
+    }
+
     if (mmap_using_noreserve)
         warn("Not reserving swap space. May cause SIGSEGV on actual usage\n");
 
diff --git a/src/mem/physical.hh b/src/mem/physical.hh
index bb90664dce..ff0dc61a3d 100644
--- a/src/mem/physical.hh
+++ b/src/mem/physical.hh
@@ -174,7 +174,8 @@ class PhysicalMemory : public Serializable
     PhysicalMemory(const std::string& _name,
                    const std::vector<AbstractMemory*>& _memories,
                    bool mmap_using_noreserve,
-                   const std::string& shared_backstore);
+                   const std::string& shared_backstore,
+                   bool auto_unlink_shared_backstore);
 
     /**
      * Unmap all the backing store we have used.
diff --git a/src/sim/System.py b/src/sim/System.py
index 499cf9bd07..b5bd5df363 100644
--- a/src/sim/System.py
+++ b/src/sim/System.py
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ class System(SimObject):
     shared_backstore = Param.String("", "backstore's shmem segment filename, "
         "use to directly address the backstore from another host-OS process. "
         "Leave this empty to unset the MAP_SHARED flag.")
+    auto_unlink_shared_backstore = Param.Bool(False, "Automatically remove the "
+        "shmem segment file upon destruction. This is used only if "
+        "shared_backstore is non-empty.")
 
     cache_line_size = Param.Unsigned(64, "Cache line size in bytes")
 
diff --git a/src/sim/system.cc b/src/sim/system.cc
index d5e5e3f5a4..b7fba8a356 100644
--- a/src/sim/system.cc
+++ b/src/sim/system.cc
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ System::System(const Params &p)
       physProxy(_systemPort, p.cache_line_size),
       workload(p.workload),
       physmem(name() + ".physmem", p.memories, p.mmap_using_noreserve,
-              p.shared_backstore),
+              p.shared_backstore, p.auto_unlink_shared_backstore),
       ShadowRomRanges(p.shadow_rom_ranges.begin(),
                       p.shadow_rom_ranges.end()),
       memoryMode(p.mem_mode),