diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/recipeutils.py b/meta/lib/oe/recipeutils.py
index c6604f536d..3fc427fa5e 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/recipeutils.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/recipeutils.py
@@ -1009,7 +1009,7 @@ def get_recipe_pv_with_pfx_sfx(pv, uri_type):
 
     return (pv, pfx, sfx)
 
-def get_recipe_upstream_version(rd):
+def get_recipe_upstream_version(rd, stable_upgrade):
     """
         Get upstream version of recipe using bb.fetch2 methods with support for
         http, https, ftp and git.
@@ -1080,7 +1080,19 @@ def get_recipe_upstream_version(rd):
             except bb.fetch2.FetchError as e:
                 bb.warn("Unable to obtain latest revision: {}".format(e))
         else:
-            pupver = ud.method.latest_versionstring(ud, rd)
+            if stable_upgrade:
+                stable_release_regex = rd.getVar("UPSTREAM_STABLE_RELEASE_REGEX")
+                if stable_release_regex:
+                    pupver = ud.method.latest_versionstring(ud, rd, filter_regex=stable_release_regex)
+                else:
+                    # Recipe not setting UPSTREAM_STABLE_RELEASE_REGEX, give it some reasonable default.
+                    if len(ru['current_version'].split('.')) >= 3:
+                        stable_release_regex = '%s\.\d' % '\.'.join(ru['current_version'].split('.')[:-1])
+                        pupver = ud.method.latest_versionstring(ud, rd, filter_regex=stable_release_regex)
+                    else:
+                        pupver = (ru['current_version'], None)
+            else:
+                pupver = ud.method.latest_versionstring(ud, rd)
             (upversion, revision) = pupver
 
         if upversion:
@@ -1094,8 +1106,8 @@ def get_recipe_upstream_version(rd):
 
     return ru
 
-def _get_recipe_upgrade_status(data):
-    uv = get_recipe_upstream_version(data)
+def _get_recipe_upgrade_status(data, stable_upgrade):
+    uv = get_recipe_upstream_version(data, stable_upgrade)
 
     pn = data.getVar('PN')
     cur_ver = uv['current_version']
@@ -1119,9 +1131,10 @@ def _get_recipe_upgrade_status(data):
 
     return {'pn':pn, 'status':status, 'cur_ver':cur_ver, 'next_ver':next_ver, 'maintainer':maintainer, 'revision':revision, 'no_upgrade_reason':no_upgrade_reason}
 
-def get_recipe_upgrade_status(recipes=None):
+def get_recipe_upgrade_status(recipes=None, stable_upgrade=False):
     pkgs_list = []
     data_copy_list = []
+    stable_copy_list = []
     copy_vars = ('SRC_URI',
                  'PV',
                  'DL_DIR',
@@ -1134,6 +1147,7 @@ def get_recipe_upgrade_status(recipes=None):
                  'UPSTREAM_CHECK_REGEX',
                  'UPSTREAM_CHECK_URI',
                  'UPSTREAM_VERSION_UNKNOWN',
+                 'UPSTREAM_STABLE_RELEASE_REGEX',
                  'RECIPE_MAINTAINER',
                  'RECIPE_NO_UPDATE_REASON',
                  'RECIPE_UPSTREAM_VERSION',
@@ -1180,12 +1194,13 @@ def get_recipe_upgrade_status(recipes=None):
                     data_copy.setVar(k, data.getVar(k))
 
             data_copy_list.append(data_copy)
+            stable_copy_list.append(stable_upgrade)
 
             recipeincludes[data.getVar('FILE')] = {'bbincluded':data.getVar('BBINCLUDED').split(),'pn':data.getVar('PN')}
 
     from concurrent.futures import ProcessPoolExecutor
     with ProcessPoolExecutor(max_workers=utils.cpu_count()) as executor:
-        pkgs_list = executor.map(_get_recipe_upgrade_status, data_copy_list)
+        pkgs_list = executor.map(_get_recipe_upgrade_status, data_copy_list, stable_copy_list)
 
     return _group_recipes(pkgs_list, _get_common_include_recipes(recipeincludes))