diff --git a/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.mem b/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.mem
index 57b74fe0a61..ed857c361c4 100644
--- a/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.mem
+++ b/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.mem
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ config POSIX_SHARED_MEMORY_OBJECTS
 
 config POSIX_MAPPED_FILES
 	bool "POSIX memory-mapped files"
-	imply MMU
+	# disable Xtensa for now until linker issues are resolved
+	imply MMU if (CPU_HAS_MMU && !XTENSA)
 	help
 	  Select 'y' here and Zephyr will provide support for mmap(), msync(), and munmap().