diff --git a/drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c b/drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c
index 9c44252e52a3..2384ea85ffaf 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c
@@ -311,7 +311,8 @@ vcs_read(struct file *file, char __user *buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
 			do {
 				if (nr > this_round/4)
 					nr = this_round/4;
-				vc_uniscr_copy_line(vc, con_buf0, row, col, nr);
+				vc_uniscr_copy_line(vc, con_buf0, viewed,
+						    row, col, nr);
 				con_buf0 += nr * 4;
 				this_round -= nr * 4;
 				row++;
diff --git a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
index 062ce6be7957..2d14bb195d98 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
@@ -533,13 +533,40 @@ int vc_uniscr_check(struct vc_data *vc)
  * This must be preceded by a successful call to vc_uniscr_check() once
  * the console lock has been taken.
  */
-void vc_uniscr_copy_line(struct vc_data *vc, void *dest,
+void vc_uniscr_copy_line(struct vc_data *vc, void *dest, int viewed,
 			 unsigned int row, unsigned int col, unsigned int nr)
 {
 	struct uni_screen *uniscr = get_vc_uniscr(vc);
+	int offset = row * vc->vc_size_row + col * 2;
+	unsigned long pos;
 
 	BUG_ON(!uniscr);
-	memcpy(dest, &uniscr->lines[row][col], nr * sizeof(char32_t));
+
+	pos = (unsigned long)screenpos(vc, offset, viewed);
+	if (pos >= vc->vc_origin && pos < vc->vc_scr_end) {
+		/*
+		 * Desired position falls in the main screen buffer.
+		 * However the actual row/col might be different if
+		 * scrollback is active.
+		 */
+		row = (pos - vc->vc_origin) / vc->vc_size_row;
+		col = ((pos - vc->vc_origin) % vc->vc_size_row) / 2;
+		memcpy(dest, &uniscr->lines[row][col], nr * sizeof(char32_t));
+	} else {
+		/*
+		 * Scrollback is active. For now let's simply backtranslate
+		 * the screen glyphs until the unicode screen buffer does
+		 * synchronize with console display drivers for a scrollback
+		 * buffer of its own.
+		 */
+		u16 *p = (u16 *)pos;
+		int mask = vc->vc_hi_font_mask | 0xff;
+		char32_t *uni_buf = dest;
+		while (nr--) {
+			u16 glyph = scr_readw(p++) & mask;
+			*uni_buf++ = inverse_translate(vc, glyph, true);
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 
diff --git a/include/linux/selection.h b/include/linux/selection.h
index 2b34df9f1e26..067d2e99c79f 100644
--- a/include/linux/selection.h
+++ b/include/linux/selection.h
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ extern void vcs_scr_writew(struct vc_data *vc, u16 val, u16 *org);
 extern void vcs_scr_updated(struct vc_data *vc);
 
 extern int vc_uniscr_check(struct vc_data *vc);
-extern void vc_uniscr_copy_line(struct vc_data *vc, void *dest,
+extern void vc_uniscr_copy_line(struct vc_data *vc, void *dest, int viewed,
 				unsigned int row, unsigned int col,
 				unsigned int nr);