diff --git a/build_library/vm_image_util.sh b/build_library/vm_image_util.sh
index ecaa792d5a..55c6a5c85c 100644
--- a/build_library/vm_image_util.sh
+++ b/build_library/vm_image_util.sh
@@ -749,6 +749,7 @@ _write_iso_disk() {
     mkdir isolinux syslinux flatcar
     _write_cpio_common "$1" "${iso_target}/flatcar/cpio.gz"
     cp "${VM_TMP_ROOT}"/boot/flatcar/vmlinuz-a "${iso_target}/flatcar/vmlinuz"
+    dd if=/dev/zero of="${iso_target}/flatcar/ignition.img" bs=1024 count=256
     cp -R /usr/share/syslinux/* isolinux/
     cat<<EOF > isolinux/isolinux.cfg
 INCLUDE /syslinux/syslinux.cfg
@@ -761,7 +762,7 @@ timeout 15
 label flatcar
   menu default
   kernel /flatcar/vmlinuz
-  append initrd=/flatcar/cpio.gz flatcar.autologin
+  append initrd=/flatcar/cpio.gz,/flatcar/ignition.img flatcar.autologin
 EOF
     mkisofs -v -l -r -J -o $2 -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table .
     isohybrid $2
diff --git a/changelog/changes/2024-08-29-iso-ignition.md b/changelog/changes/2024-08-29-iso-ignition.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6b9b178bb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/changes/2024-08-29-iso-ignition.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Added empty ignition.img placeholder file to ISO so that custom Ignition JSON can be embedded within it.