diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 8995d2c391..83b59fb443 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -1714,6 +1714,18 @@ sub process {
 		    &checkspdx($realfile, $1);
 		}
 
+		if ($rawline =~ m,(SPDX-[a-zA-Z0-9-_]+):,) {
+		    my $tag = $1;
+		    my @permitted = qw(
+			SPDX-License-Identifier
+		    );
+
+		    unless (grep { /^$tag$/ } @permitted) {
+			ERROR("Tag $tag not permitted in QEMU code, valid " .
+			      "choices are: " . join(", ", @permitted));
+		    }
+		}
+
 # Check for wrappage within a valid hunk of the file
 		if ($realcnt != 0 && $line !~ m{^(?:\+|-| |\\ No newline|$)}) {
 			ERROR("patch seems to be corrupt (line wrapped?)\n" .