diff --git a/include/hermit/config.h b/include/hermit/config.h
index 676325417..6e0c086c3 100644
--- a/include/hermit/config.h
+++ b/include/hermit/config.h
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #define CACHE_LINE		64
 #define KERNEL_STACK_SIZE	(8*1024)
 #define DEFAULT_STACK_SIZE	(256*1024)
+#define HEAP_START		(1ULL << 48 - 0x2000)
 #define KMSG_SIZE		(4*1024)
 #define INT_SYSCALL		0x80
 #define MAILBOX_SIZE		128
diff --git a/kernel/main.c b/kernel/main.c
index f680398c3..221c7c04a 100644
--- a/kernel/main.c
+++ b/kernel/main.c
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ static int initd(void* arg)
 	int magic = 0;
 	struct sockaddr_in6 server, client;
 	task_t* curr_task = per_core(current_task);
-	size_t heap = 0x80000000;
+	size_t heap = HEAP_START;
 	int argc, envc;
 	char** argv = NULL;
 	char **environ = NULL;