diff --git a/util/mbedtls_maintainer/__init__.py b/util/mbedtls_maintainer/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6a5ed79ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/mbedtls_maintainer/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# This file needs to exist to make mbedtls_maintainer a package.
+# Among other things, this allows modules in this directory to make
+# relative imports.