diff --git a/tools/include/nolibc/nolibc.h b/tools/include/nolibc/nolibc.h
index 96b6d56acb572..7f300dc379e70 100644
--- a/tools/include/nolibc/nolibc.h
+++ b/tools/include/nolibc/nolibc.h
@@ -583,13 +583,21 @@ struct sys_stat_struct {
 })
 
 /* startup code */
+/*
+ * i386 System V ABI mandates:
+ * 1) last pushed argument must be 16-byte aligned.
+ * 2) The deepest stack frame should be set to zero
+ *
+ */
 asm(".section .text\n"
     ".global _start\n"
     "_start:\n"
     "pop %eax\n"                // argc   (first arg, %eax)
     "mov %esp, %ebx\n"          // argv[] (second arg, %ebx)
     "lea 4(%ebx,%eax,4),%ecx\n" // then a NULL then envp (third arg, %ecx)
-    "and $-16, %esp\n"          // x86 ABI : esp must be 16-byte aligned when
+    "xor %ebp, %ebp\n"          // zero the stack frame
+    "and $-16, %esp\n"          // x86 ABI : esp must be 16-byte aligned before
+    "sub $4, %esp\n"            // the call instruction (args are aligned)
     "push %ecx\n"               // push all registers on the stack so that we
     "push %ebx\n"               // support both regparm and plain stack modes
     "push %eax\n"