diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/uboot-sign.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/uboot-sign.bbclass
index 409f6376b1..82ecba108b 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/uboot-sign.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/uboot-sign.bbclass
@@ -112,6 +112,9 @@ UBOOT_FIT_ARM_TRUSTED_FIRMWARE_IMAGE ?= "bl31.bin"
 # management of that surrounding environment.
 UBOOT_FIT_TEE ?= "0"
 UBOOT_FIT_TEE_IMAGE ?= "tee-raw.bin"
+# FIT image type of the tee node, e.g. "firmware" for an SPL that loads
+# OP-TEE as a plain firmware image
+UBOOT_FIT_TEE_TYPE ?= "tee"
 
 # User specific settings
 UBOOT_FIT_USER_SETTINGS ?= ""
@@ -388,7 +391,7 @@ uboot_fitimage_tee() {
         tee {
             description = "Trusted Execution Environment";
             data = /incbin/("${UBOOT_FIT_TEE_IMAGE}");
-            type = "tee";
+            type = "${UBOOT_FIT_TEE_TYPE}";
             arch = "${UBOOT_ARCH}";
             os = "tee";
             load = <${UBOOT_FIT_TEE_LOADADDRESS}>;
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/fitimage.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/fitimage.py
index 1fad53b16c..15b3de04d8 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/fitimage.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/fitimage.py
@@ -1713,6 +1713,7 @@ class UBootFitImageTests(FitImageTestCase):
             'UBOOT_FIT_TEE_ENTRYPOINT',
             'UBOOT_FIT_TEE_IMAGE',
             'UBOOT_FIT_TEE_LOADADDRESS',
+            'UBOOT_FIT_TEE_TYPE',
             'UBOOT_FIT_TEE',
             'UBOOT_FIT_UBOOT_ENTRYPOINT',
             'UBOOT_FIT_UBOOT_LOADADDRESS',
@@ -1815,7 +1816,7 @@ class UBootFitImageTests(FitImageTestCase):
             its_field_check += [
                 'description = "Trusted Execution Environment";',
                 'data = /incbin/("%s");' % bb_vars['UBOOT_FIT_TEE_IMAGE'],
-                'type = "tee";',
+                'type = "%s";' % bb_vars['UBOOT_FIT_TEE_TYPE'],
                 'arch = "%s";' % bb_vars['UBOOT_ARCH'],
                 'os = "tee";',
                 'load = <%s>;' % bb_vars['UBOOT_FIT_TEE_LOADADDRESS'],
@@ -1882,8 +1883,12 @@ class UBootFitImageTests(FitImageTestCase):
         }
         if bb_vars['UBOOT_FIT_TEE'] == "1":
             loadables.append("tee")
+            tee_types = {
+                "tee": "Trusted Execution Environment Image",
+                "firmware": "Firmware",
+            }
             req_sections['tee'] = {
-                "Type": "Trusted Execution Environment Image",
+                "Type": tee_types[bb_vars['UBOOT_FIT_TEE_TYPE']],
                 # "Load Address": bb_vars['UBOOT_FIT_TEE_LOADADDRESS'], not printed by mkimage?
                 # "Entry Point": bb_vars['UBOOT_FIT_TEE_ENTRYPOINT'], not printed by mkimage?
             }