diff --git a/components/bootloader/Kconfig.projbuild b/components/bootloader/Kconfig.projbuild
index e7be47a824..fdbadc2827 100644
--- a/components/bootloader/Kconfig.projbuild
+++ b/components/bootloader/Kconfig.projbuild
@@ -193,6 +193,14 @@ menu "Bootloader config"
             The GPIO must be held low continuously for this period of time after reset
             before a factory reset or test partition boot (as applicable) is performed.
 
+    config BOOTLOADER_REGION_PROTECTION_ENABLE
+        bool "Enable protection for unmapped memory regions"
+        default y
+        help
+            Protects the unmapped memory regions of the entire address space from unintended accesses.
+            This will ensure that an exception will be triggered whenever the CPU performs a memory
+            operation on unmapped regions of the address space.
+
     config BOOTLOADER_WDT_ENABLE
         bool "Use RTC watchdog in start code"
         default y
diff --git a/components/bootloader_support/src/bootloader_mem.c b/components/bootloader_support/src/bootloader_mem.c
index 2466a6913f..69651b6936 100644
--- a/components/bootloader_support/src/bootloader_mem.c
+++ b/components/bootloader_support/src/bootloader_mem.c
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ void bootloader_init_mem(void)
 {
     cpu_hal_init_hwloop();
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_REGION_PROTECTION_ENABLE
     // protect memory region
     esp_cpu_configure_region_protection();
+#endif
 }