diff --git a/src/server/gdb_server.c b/src/server/gdb_server.c
index b59b9f12f7..836e783624 100644
--- a/src/server/gdb_server.c
+++ b/src/server/gdb_server.c
@@ -1174,7 +1174,7 @@ static int gdb_get_registers_packet(struct connection *connection,
 	for (i = 0; i < reg_list_size; i++) {
 		if (!reg_list[i]->valid) {
 			retval = reg_list[i]->type->get(reg_list[i]);
-			if (retval != ERROR_OK) {
+			if (retval != ERROR_OK && target->propagate_register_errors) {
 				LOG_DEBUG("Couldn't get register %s.", reg_list[i]->name);
 				free(reg_packet);
 				free(reg_list);
@@ -1242,7 +1242,7 @@ static int gdb_set_registers_packet(struct connection *connection,
 		gdb_target_to_reg(target, packet_p, chars, bin_buf);
 
 		retval = reg_list[i]->type->set(reg_list[i], bin_buf);
-		if (retval != ERROR_OK) {
+		if (retval != ERROR_OK && target->propagate_register_errors) {
 			LOG_DEBUG("Couldn't set register %s.", reg_list[i]->name);
 			free(reg_list);
 			free(bin_buf);
@@ -1289,7 +1289,7 @@ static int gdb_get_register_packet(struct connection *connection,
 
 	if (!reg_list[reg_num]->valid) {
 		retval = reg_list[reg_num]->type->get(reg_list[reg_num]);
-		if (retval != ERROR_OK) {
+		if (retval != ERROR_OK && target->propagate_register_errors) {
 			LOG_DEBUG("Couldn't get register %s.", reg_list[reg_num]->name);
 			free(reg_list);
 			return gdb_error(connection, retval);
@@ -1349,7 +1349,7 @@ static int gdb_set_register_packet(struct connection *connection,
 	gdb_target_to_reg(target, separator + 1, chars, bin_buf);
 
 	retval = reg_list[reg_num]->type->set(reg_list[reg_num], bin_buf);
-	if (retval != ERROR_OK) {
+	if (retval != ERROR_OK && target->propagate_register_errors) {
 		LOG_DEBUG("Couldn't set register %s.", reg_list[reg_num]->name);
 		free(bin_buf);
 		free(reg_list);
diff --git a/src/target/riscv/riscv.c b/src/target/riscv/riscv.c
index 60191d85d8..6902ec283b 100644
--- a/src/target/riscv/riscv.c
+++ b/src/target/riscv/riscv.c
@@ -245,6 +245,7 @@ static int riscv_init_target(struct command_context *cmd_ctx,
 		struct target *target)
 {
 	LOG_DEBUG("riscv_init_target()");
+	target->propagate_register_errors = true;
 	target->arch_info = calloc(1, sizeof(riscv_info_t));
 	if (!target->arch_info)
 		return ERROR_FAIL;
diff --git a/src/target/target.h b/src/target/target.h
index 0096cae10e..c11a626f88 100644
--- a/src/target/target.h
+++ b/src/target/target.h
@@ -204,6 +204,14 @@ struct target {
 
 	/* file-I/O information for host to do syscall */
 	struct gdb_fileio_info *fileio_info;
+
+	/**
+	 * When true, send gdb an error result when reading/writing a register
+	 * fails. This must be false for some ARM targets (Cortex-M3), where a 'g'
+	 * packet results in an attempt to read 'r0', which fails, which causes gdb
+	 * to close the connection.
+	 */
+	bool propagate_register_errors;
 };
 
 struct target_list {