diff --git a/cpu/cc2538/Makefile.cc2538 b/cpu/cc2538/Makefile.cc2538
index c92d67d22..85a5de204 100644
--- a/cpu/cc2538/Makefile.cc2538
+++ b/cpu/cc2538/Makefile.cc2538
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ OBJCOPY_FLAGS += -O binary --gap-fill 0xff
 ### Are we building with code size optimisations?
 ifeq ($(SMALL),1)
   CFLAGS += -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections
-  LDFLAGS += -Wl,--gc-sections
+  LDFLAGS += -Wl,--gc-sections,--sort-section=alignment
 endif
 
 ### If the user-specified a Node ID, pass a define
diff --git a/cpu/cc2538/cc2538.lds b/cpu/cc2538/cc2538.lds
index 635ec454b..71115fbe3 100644
--- a/cpu/cc2538/cc2538.lds
+++ b/cpu/cc2538/cc2538.lds
@@ -64,10 +64,14 @@ SECTIONS
         _etext = .;
     } > FLASH= 0
 
+    .socdata (NOLOAD) :
+    {
+        *(.udma_channel_control_table)
+    } > SRAM
+
     .data :
     {
         _data = .;
-        *(vtable)
         *(.data*)
         _edata = .;
     } > SRAM AT > FLASH
@@ -86,7 +90,7 @@ SECTIONS
     } > SRAM
 
 #if (LPM_CONF_MAX_PM==2) && (LPM_CONF_ENABLE != 0)
-    .nrdata :
+    .nrdata (NOLOAD) :
     {
         _nrdata = .;
         *(.nrdata*)
diff --git a/cpu/cc2538/dev/udma.c b/cpu/cc2538/dev/udma.c
index af30b1436..c285d1b11 100644
--- a/cpu/cc2538/dev/udma.c
+++ b/cpu/cc2538/dev/udma.c
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ struct channel_ctrl {
 };
 
 static volatile struct channel_ctrl channel_config[UDMA_CONF_MAX_CHANNEL + 1]
-  __attribute__ ((aligned(1024)));
+  __attribute__ ((section(".udma_channel_control_table")));
 /*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 void
 udma_init()