diff --git a/scripts/autotest_common.sh b/scripts/autotest_common.sh
index adae38490..14eeda642 100755
--- a/scripts/autotest_common.sh
+++ b/scripts/autotest_common.sh
@@ -227,6 +227,21 @@ function rbd_cleanup() {
 	fi
 }
 
+function start_stub() {
+	$rootdir/test/app/stub/stub $1 &
+	stubpid=$!
+	echo Waiting for stub to ready for secondary processes...
+	while ! [ -e /var/run/.spdk0_config ]; do
+		sleep 0.1s
+	done
+	echo done.
+}
+
+function kill_stub() {
+	kill $stubpid
+	rm -rf /var/run/.spdk0_config
+}
+
 function run_test() {
 	set +x
 	echo "************************************"
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/common.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/common.sh
index 3eecff4b1..7cdde82da 100644
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/common.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/common.sh
@@ -11,3 +11,7 @@ fi
 if [ -z "$ISCSI_APP" ]; then
 	ISCSI_APP=./app/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt
 fi
+
+if [ -z "$ISCSI_TEST_CORE_MASK" ]; then
+	ISCSI_TEST_CORE_MASK=0xFFFF
+fi
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/filesystem/filesystem.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/filesystem/filesystem.sh
index fb05e0963..df45f35ae 100755
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/filesystem/filesystem.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/filesystem/filesystem.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ rpc_py="python $rootdir/scripts/rpc.py"
 
 timing_enter start_iscsi_tgt
 
-$ISCSI_APP -c $testdir/iscsi.conf -m 0xFFFF &
+$ISCSI_APP -c $testdir/iscsi.conf -m $ISCSI_TEST_CORE_MASK &
 pid=$!
 echo "Process pid: $pid"
 
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/idle_migration/idle_migration.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/idle_migration/idle_migration.sh
index 7b6fe6640..722a92c93 100755
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/idle_migration/idle_migration.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/idle_migration/idle_migration.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ fio_py="python $rootdir/scripts/fio.py"
 
 timing_enter start_iscsi_tgt
 
-$ISCSI_APP -c $testdir/iscsi.conf -m 0xFFFF &
+$ISCSI_APP -c $testdir/iscsi.conf -m $ISCSI_TEST_CORE_MASK &
 pid=$!
 echo "Process pid: $pid"
 
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/ip_migration/ip_migration.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/ip_migration/ip_migration.sh
index 621c66f57..5ef348be5 100755
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/ip_migration/ip_migration.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/ip_migration/ip_migration.sh
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ do
 	timing_enter start_iscsi_tgt_$i
 
 	# TODO: run the different iSCSI instances on non-overlapping CPU masks
-	$ISCSI_APP -c $testdir/iscsi.conf.$i -s 1000 -i $i -m 0xFFFF &
+	$ISCSI_APP -c $testdir/iscsi.conf.$i -s 1000 -i $i -m $ISCSI_TEST_CORE_MASK &
 	pid=$!
 	echo "Process pid: $pid"
 
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt.sh
index 2404cd559..5decbc13b 100755
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,22 @@ fi
 export TARGET_IP=127.0.0.1
 export INITIATOR_IP=127.0.0.1
 
+source $rootdir/test/iscsi_tgt/common.sh
+
 timing_enter iscsi_tgt
+
+# ISCSI_TEST_CORE_MASK is the biggest core mask specified by
+#  any of the iscsi_tgt tests.  Using this mask for the stub
+#  ensures that if this mask spans CPU sockets, that we will
+#  allocate memory from both sockets.  The stub will *not*
+#  run anything on the extra cores (and will sleep on master
+#  core 0) so there is no impact to the iscsi_tgt tests by
+#  specifying the bigger core mask.
+start_stub "-s 2048 -i 0 -m $ISCSI_TEST_CORE_MASK"
+trap "kill_stub; exit 1" SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT
+
+export ISCSI_APP="./app/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt -i 0"
+
 run_test ./test/iscsi_tgt/calsoft/calsoft.sh
 run_test ./test/iscsi_tgt/filesystem/filesystem.sh
 run_test ./test/iscsi_tgt/fio/fio.sh
@@ -22,5 +37,12 @@ if [ $RUN_NIGHTLY -eq 1 ]; then
 fi
 run_test ./test/iscsi_tgt/ext4test/ext4test.sh
 run_test ./test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh
+
+trap - SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT
+kill_stub
+
+# TODO: enable remote NVMe controllers with multi-process so that
+#  we can use the stub for this test
 run_test ./test/iscsi_tgt/nvme_remote/fio_remote_nvme.sh
+
 timing_exit iscsi_tgt
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh
index d04a266e6..b6d1eb57c 100755
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ fio_py="python $rootdir/scripts/fio.py"
 
 timing_enter start_iscsi_tgt
 
-$ISCSI_APP -c $testdir/iscsi.conf -m 0xFFFF &
+$ISCSI_APP -c $testdir/iscsi.conf -m $ISCSI_TEST_CORE_MASK &
 pid=$!
 
 trap "killprocess $pid; exit 1" SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT