diff --git a/include/arch/arm/aarch32/cortex_a_r/scripts/linker.ld b/include/arch/arm/aarch32/cortex_a_r/scripts/linker.ld
index fd67ed4fe63..907eac34816 100644
--- a/include/arch/arm/aarch32/cortex_a_r/scripts/linker.ld
+++ b/include/arch/arm/aarch32/cortex_a_r/scripts/linker.ld
@@ -108,7 +108,11 @@ SECTIONS
 
     GROUP_START(ROMABLE_REGION)
 
+#if defined(CONFIG_XIP)
     _image_rom_start = ROM_ADDR;
+#else
+    _image_rom_start = RAM_ADDR;
+#endif
 
     SECTION_PROLOGUE(rom_start,,)
     {
@@ -175,6 +179,7 @@ SECTIONS
 
 #include <linker/common-rom.ld>
 #include <linker/thread-local-storage.ld>
+#include <linker/cplusplus-rom.ld>
 
     SECTION_PROLOGUE(_RODATA_SECTION_NAME,,)
     {
@@ -200,13 +205,17 @@ SECTIONS
          * usually 4k aligned.
          */
         . = ALIGN(4);
+
+        /*
+         * RODATA must be the last section so that the size of the entire read
+         * only area will be filled to a power of 2.
+         */
+        MPU_ALIGN(ABSOLUTE(.) - _image_rom_start);
     } GROUP_LINK_IN(ROMABLE_REGION)
 
-#include <linker/cplusplus-rom.ld>
-
     _image_rodata_end = .;
-    MPU_ALIGN(_image_rodata_end -_image_rom_start);
     _image_rom_end = .;
+    _image_rom_end_order = (LOG2CEIL(_image_rom_end) - 1) << 1;
 
     GROUP_END(ROMABLE_REGION)