diff --git a/scripts/gdb/linux/utils.py b/scripts/gdb/linux/utils.py
index c9d705b62bfe..10a227bdb621 100644
--- a/scripts/gdb/linux/utils.py
+++ b/scripts/gdb/linux/utils.py
@@ -67,3 +67,21 @@ Note that TYPE and ELEMENT have to be quoted as strings."""
                             elementname.string())
 
 ContainerOf()
+
+
+BIG_ENDIAN = 0
+LITTLE_ENDIAN = 1
+target_endianness = None
+
+
+def get_target_endianness():
+    global target_endianness
+    if target_endianness is None:
+        endian = gdb.execute("show endian", to_string=True)
+        if "little endian" in endian:
+            target_endianness = LITTLE_ENDIAN
+        elif "big endian" in endian:
+            target_endianness = BIG_ENDIAN
+        else:
+            raise gdb.GdgError("unknown endianness '{0}'".format(endian))
+    return target_endianness