diff --git a/cpu/cc2538/cpu.c b/cpu/cc2538/cpu.c
index 389fe7a0e0..f74e141ad6 100644
--- a/cpu/cc2538/cpu.c
+++ b/cpu/cc2538/cpu.c
@@ -34,8 +34,6 @@
 
 #define CLOCK_STA_MASK ( OSC32K | OSC )
 
-extern const void *interrupt_vector[];
-
 static void cpu_clock_init(void);
 
 /**
@@ -43,18 +41,12 @@ static void cpu_clock_init(void);
  */
 void cpu_init(void)
 {
-    /* configure the vector table location to internal flash */
-    assert((uintptr_t)&interrupt_vector % CC2538_VTOR_ALIGN == 0);
-    SCB->VTOR = (uintptr_t)&interrupt_vector;
-
+    /* initialize the Cortex-M core */
+    cortexm_init();
     /* Enable the CC2538's more compact alternate interrupt mapping */
     SYS_CTRL->I_MAP = 1;
-
     /* initialize the clock system */
     cpu_clock_init();
-
-    /* set pendSV interrupt to lowest possible priority */
-    NVIC_SetPriority(PendSV_IRQn, 0xff);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/cpu/cc2538/include/cpu_conf.h b/cpu/cc2538/include/cpu_conf.h
index b02353d7fb..7b5a98532a 100644
--- a/cpu/cc2538/include/cpu_conf.h
+++ b/cpu/cc2538/include/cpu_conf.h
@@ -33,25 +33,12 @@ extern "C" {
 #endif
 
 /**
- * @name Kernel configuration
+ * @brief   ARM Cortex-M specific CPU configuration
  * @{
  */
-#define THREAD_EXTRA_STACKSIZE_PRINTF    1024
-
-#ifndef THREAD_STACKSIZE_DEFAULT
-#define THREAD_STACKSIZE_DEFAULT   1024
-#endif
-
-#define THREAD_STACKSIZE_IDLE      512
-/** @} */
-
-/**
- * @name UART0 buffer size definition for compatibility reasons
- * @{
- */
-#ifndef UART0_BUFSIZE
-#define UART0_BUFSIZE                   128
-#endif
+#define CPU_DEFAULT_IRQ_PRIO            (1U)
+#define CPU_IRQ_NUMOF                   PERIPH_COUNT_IRQn
+#define CPU_FLASH_BASE                  FLASH_BASE
 /** @} */
 
 /**