diff --git a/Makefile.dep b/Makefile.dep
index 9b01c11117a1443d3d76a90abc273a295deaccd4..639ec08596f14b3c3a71e388104a615ee9b54d2b 100644
--- a/Makefile.dep
+++ b/Makefile.dep
@@ -791,6 +791,11 @@ ifneq (,$(filter uuid,$(USEMODULE)))
USEMODULE += random
endif
+ifneq (,$(filter riotboot_hdr, $(USEMODULE)))
+ USEMODULE += checksum
+ USEMODULE += riotboot
+endif
+
# Enable periph_gpio when periph_gpio_irq is enabled
ifneq (,$(filter periph_gpio_irq,$(USEMODULE)))
FEATURES_REQUIRED += periph_gpio
diff --git a/makefiles/pseudomodules.inc.mk b/makefiles/pseudomodules.inc.mk
index f27ea28fb4c1fe19b8125ff8b90f8adbfe9fc7f3..c737ba29813c2c6798f0c0fca29337738f8eb2f9 100644
--- a/makefiles/pseudomodules.inc.mk
+++ b/makefiles/pseudomodules.inc.mk
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ PSEUDOMODULES += pktqueue
PSEUDOMODULES += printf_float
PSEUDOMODULES += prng
PSEUDOMODULES += prng_%
+PSEUDOMODULES += riotboot_%
PSEUDOMODULES += saul_adc
PSEUDOMODULES += saul_default
PSEUDOMODULES += saul_gpio
diff --git a/sys/Makefile b/sys/Makefile
index bab6d947837d8e43f9d67dfab3059edd5fcc882e..27b9b5396a761d586305df33406e949e3bb5bcdf 100644
--- a/sys/Makefile
+++ b/sys/Makefile
@@ -140,7 +140,6 @@ ifneq (,$(filter cord_ep,$(USEMODULE)))
DIRS += net/application_layer/cord/ep
endif
-
DIRS += $(dir $(wildcard $(addsuffix /Makefile, $(USEMODULE))))
include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.base
diff --git a/sys/include/riotboot/hdr.h b/sys/include/riotboot/hdr.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f4300657c7451f078bbfc1f7c31a0f1141c01363
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys/include/riotboot/hdr.h
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2018 Kaspar Schleiser <kaspar@schleiser.de>
+ * Inria
+ *
+ * This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU Lesser
+ * General Public License v2.1. See the file LICENSE in the top level
+ * directory for more details.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @defgroup sys_riotboot_hdr RIOT header helpers and tools
+ * @ingroup sys
+ * @{
+ *
+ * The header contains
+ *
+ * - "RIOT" as magic number
+ * - the application version
+ * - the address where the RIOT firmware is found
+ * - the checksum of the three previous fields
+ *
+ * @file
+ * @brief RIOT "partition" header and tools
+ *
+ * @author Kaspar Schleiser <kaspar@schleiser.de>
+ * @author Francisco Acosta <francisco.acosta@inria.fr>
+ *
+ * @}
+ */
+
+#ifndef RIOTBOOT_HDR_H
+#define RIOTBOOT_HDR_H
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+
+/**
+ * @brief Magic number for riotboot_hdr
+ *
+ */
+#define RIOTBOOT_MAGIC 0x544f4952 /* "RIOT" */
+
+/**
+ * @brief Structure to store image header - All members are little endian
+ * @{
+ */
+typedef struct {
+ uint32_t magic_number; /**< Header magic number (always "RIOT") */
+ uint32_t version; /**< Integer representing the partition version */
+ uint32_t start_addr; /**< Address after the allocated space for the header */
+ uint32_t chksum; /**< Checksum of riotboot_hdr */
+} riotboot_hdr_t;
+/** @} */
+
+/**
+ * @brief Print formatted riotboot_hdr_t to STDIO
+ *
+ * @param[in] riotboot_hdr ptr to image header
+ *
+ */
+void riotboot_hdr_print(const riotboot_hdr_t *riotboot_hdr);
+
+/**
+ * @brief Validate image header
+ *
+ * @param[in] riotboot_hdr ptr to image header
+ *
+ * @returns 0 if OK
+ * @returns -1 if not OK
+ */
+int riotboot_hdr_validate(const riotboot_hdr_t *riotboot_hdr);
+
+/**
+ * @brief Calculate header checksum
+ *
+ * @param[in] riotboot_hdr ptr to image header
+ *
+ * @returns the checksum of the given riotboot_hdr
+ */
+uint32_t riotboot_hdr_checksum(const riotboot_hdr_t *riotboot_hdr);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif /* RIOTBOOT_HDR_H */
diff --git a/sys/riotboot/Makefile b/sys/riotboot/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cd1af2456e0554b9f34f996712ad3fa356b0d770
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys/riotboot/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+SUBMODULES := 1
+
+include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.base
diff --git a/sys/riotboot/hdr.c b/sys/riotboot/hdr.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..53493051a108a73e7f47085334743ca2f5c30336
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys/riotboot/hdr.c
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 Kaspar Schleiser <kaspar@schleiser.de>
+ * Inria
+ *
+ * This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU Lesser
+ * General Public License v2.1. See the file LICENSE in the top level
+ * directory for more details.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @ingroup sys_riotboot_hdr
+ * @{
+ *
+ * @file
+ * @brief RIOT header helpers and tools
+ *
+ * @author Kaspar Schleiser <kaspar@schleiser.de>
+ * @author Francisco Acosta <francisco.acosta@inria.fr>
+ *
+ * @}
+ */
+
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stddef.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+#ifdef RIOT_VERSION
+#include "log.h"
+#else
+#define LOG_INFO(...) printf(__VA_ARGS__)
+#endif
+
+#include "riotboot/hdr.h"
+#include "checksum/fletcher32.h"
+#include "byteorder.h"
+
+#if __BYTE_ORDER__ != __ORDER_LITTLE_ENDIAN__
+# error "This code is implementented in a way that it will only work for little-endian systems!"
+#endif
+
+void riotboot_hdr_print(const riotboot_hdr_t *riotboot_hdr)
+{
+ printf("Image magic_number: 0x%08x\n", (unsigned)riotboot_hdr->magic_number);
+ printf("Image Version: 0x%08x\n", (unsigned)riotboot_hdr->version);
+ printf("Image start address: 0x%08x\n", (unsigned)riotboot_hdr->start_addr);
+ printf("Header chksum: 0x%08x\n", (unsigned)riotboot_hdr->chksum);
+ printf("\n");
+}
+
+int riotboot_hdr_validate(const riotboot_hdr_t *riotboot_hdr)
+{
+ if (riotboot_hdr->magic_number != RIOTBOOT_MAGIC) {
+ LOG_INFO("%s: riotboot_hdr magic number invalid\n", __func__);
+ return -1;
+ }
+
+ int res = riotboot_hdr_checksum(riotboot_hdr) == riotboot_hdr->chksum ? 0 : -1;
+ if (res) {
+ LOG_INFO("%s: riotboot_hdr checksum invalid\n", __func__);
+ }
+
+ return res;
+}
+
+uint32_t riotboot_hdr_checksum(const riotboot_hdr_t *riotboot_hdr)
+{
+ return fletcher32((uint16_t *)riotboot_hdr, offsetof(riotboot_hdr_t, chksum) / sizeof(uint16_t));
+}