diff --git a/arch/lkl/include/uapi/asm/host_ops.h b/arch/lkl/include/uapi/asm/host_ops.h
index 673a059512108a..0d4887974115b7 100644
--- a/arch/lkl/include/uapi/asm/host_ops.h
+++ b/arch/lkl/include/uapi/asm/host_ops.h
@@ -140,6 +140,10 @@ enum lkl_prot {
  * protection
  * @munmap - unmap previously mapped memory
  *
+ * @shmem_init - initialize host shared memory for MMU physical memory
+ * @shmem_mmap - map host shared memory into address space
+ * @shmem_cleanup - cleanup host shared memory resources
+ *
  * @pci_ops - pointer to PCI host operations
  */
 struct lkl_host_operations {
@@ -199,6 +203,7 @@ struct lkl_host_operations {
 	void (*shmem_init)(unsigned long size);
 	void *(*shmem_mmap)(void *addr, unsigned long pg_off, unsigned long size,
 				enum lkl_prot prot);
+	void (*shmem_cleanup)(void);
 
 	struct lkl_dev_pci_ops *pci_ops;
 };
diff --git a/arch/lkl/mm/bootmem.c b/arch/lkl/mm/bootmem.c
index 79958137971b48..8734a24c94c2a5 100644
--- a/arch/lkl/mm/bootmem.c
+++ b/arch/lkl/mm/bootmem.c
@@ -78,4 +78,8 @@ void free_mem(void)
 		lkl_ops->page_free(_memory_start, mem_size);
 	else
 		lkl_ops->mem_free(_memory_start);
+#ifdef CONFIG_MMU
+	if (lkl_ops->shmem_cleanup)
+		lkl_ops->shmem_cleanup();
+#endif
 }
diff --git a/tools/lkl/lib/posix-host.c b/tools/lkl/lib/posix-host.c
index 2f4e0191dd78a7..5f3060558afd8a 100644
--- a/tools/lkl/lib/posix-host.c
+++ b/tools/lkl/lib/posix-host.c
@@ -531,6 +531,7 @@ static void shmem_init(unsigned long size)
 	snprintf(lkl_shmem_id, sizeof(lkl_shmem_id), "/lkl_phys_mem_%d", getpid());
 	shared_mem_fd = shm_open(lkl_shmem_id, O_RDWR | O_CREAT, rwx);
 	assert(shared_mem_fd >= 0);
+	assert(shm_unlink(lkl_shmem_id) == 0);
 	shared_mem_size = size;
 	assert(ftruncate(shared_mem_fd, shared_mem_size) == 0);
 }
@@ -546,6 +547,14 @@ static void *lkl_shmem_mmap(void *addr, unsigned long pg_off,
 		return NULL;
 	return ret;
 }
+
+static void shmem_cleanup(void)
+{
+	if (shared_mem_fd >= 0) {
+		close(shared_mem_fd);
+		shared_mem_fd = -1;
+	}
+}
 #endif // LKL_HOST_CONFIG_MMU
 
 static void *posix_malloc(unsigned long size)
@@ -611,6 +620,7 @@ struct lkl_host_operations lkl_host_ops = {
 #ifdef LKL_HOST_CONFIG_MMU
 	.shmem_init = shmem_init,
 	.shmem_mmap = lkl_shmem_mmap,
+	.shmem_cleanup = shmem_cleanup,
 #endif
 #ifdef LKL_HOST_CONFIG_VFIO_PCI
 	.pci_ops = &vfio_pci_ops,