diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost-user-scmi.c b/hw/virtio/vhost-user-scmi.c
index d386fb2df9..918bb7dcf7 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost-user-scmi.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost-user-scmi.c
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ static int vu_scmi_start(VirtIODevice *vdev)
         error_report("Error starting vhost-user-scmi: %d", ret);
         goto err_guest_notifiers;
     }
+    scmi->started_vu = true;
 
     /*
      * guest_notifier_mask/pending not used yet, so just unmask
@@ -90,6 +91,12 @@ static void vu_scmi_stop(VirtIODevice *vdev)
     struct vhost_dev *vhost_dev = &scmi->vhost_dev;
     int ret;
 
+    /* vhost_dev_is_started() check in the callers is not fully reliable. */
+    if (!scmi->started_vu) {
+        return;
+    }
+    scmi->started_vu = false;
+
     if (!k->set_guest_notifiers) {
         return;
     }
diff --git a/include/hw/virtio/vhost-user-scmi.h b/include/hw/virtio/vhost-user-scmi.h
index 6175a74ebd..c90db77dd5 100644
--- a/include/hw/virtio/vhost-user-scmi.h
+++ b/include/hw/virtio/vhost-user-scmi.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ struct VHostUserSCMI {
     VirtQueue *cmd_vq;
     VirtQueue *event_vq;
     bool connected;
+    bool started_vu;
 };
 
 #endif /* _QEMU_VHOST_USER_SCMI_H */