diff --git a/bsd-user/main.c b/bsd-user/main.c
index 01b313756e..29a629d877 100644
--- a/bsd-user/main.c
+++ b/bsd-user/main.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include "qemu/help_option.h"
 #include "qemu/module.h"
 #include "exec/exec-all.h"
+#include "user/guest-base.h"
 #include "tcg/startup.h"
 #include "qemu/timer.h"
 #include "qemu/envlist.h"
diff --git a/include/exec/cpu-all.h b/include/exec/cpu-all.h
index 027f19e052..e75ec13cd0 100644
--- a/include/exec/cpu-all.h
+++ b/include/exec/cpu-all.h
@@ -65,9 +65,6 @@
 
 #if defined(CONFIG_USER_ONLY)
 #include "exec/user/abitypes.h"
-#include "user/guest-base.h"
-
-extern bool have_guest_base;
 
 /*
  * If non-zero, the guest virtual address space is a contiguous subset
diff --git a/include/exec/cpu_ldst.h b/include/exec/cpu_ldst.h
index f3c2a3ca74..7d0a0412ad 100644
--- a/include/exec/cpu_ldst.h
+++ b/include/exec/cpu_ldst.h
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@
 
 #if defined(CONFIG_USER_ONLY)
 
+#include "user/guest-base.h"
+
 #ifndef TARGET_TAGGED_ADDRESSES
 static inline abi_ptr cpu_untagged_addr(CPUState *cs, abi_ptr x)
 {
diff --git a/include/user/guest-base.h b/include/user/guest-base.h
index 1e42bca5db..055c1d14fe 100644
--- a/include/user/guest-base.h
+++ b/include/user/guest-base.h
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
 #ifndef USER_GUEST_BASE_H
 #define USER_GUEST_BASE_H
 
+#ifndef CONFIG_USER_ONLY
+#error Cannot include this header from system emulation
+#endif
+
 extern uintptr_t guest_base;
 
+extern bool have_guest_base;
+
 #endif
diff --git a/linux-user/elfload.c b/linux-user/elfload.c
index 207455c1ba..f9461d2844 100644
--- a/linux-user/elfload.c
+++ b/linux-user/elfload.c
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 #include "qemu.h"
 #include "user/tswap-target.h"
+#include "user/guest-base.h"
 #include "user-internals.h"
 #include "signal-common.h"
 #include "loader.h"
diff --git a/linux-user/main.c b/linux-user/main.c
index 149e35432e..94e4c47f05 100644
--- a/linux-user/main.c
+++ b/linux-user/main.c
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 #include "qemu/help_option.h"
 #include "qemu/module.h"
 #include "qemu/plugin.h"
+#include "user/guest-base.h"
 #include "exec/exec-all.h"
 #include "exec/gdbstub.h"
 #include "gdbstub/user.h"