diff --git a/target/arm/helper.c b/target/arm/helper.c
index 24806c16ca..2fd504ea7a 100644
--- a/target/arm/helper.c
+++ b/target/arm/helper.c
@@ -5300,6 +5300,7 @@ static void zcr_write(CPUARMState *env, const ARMCPRegInfo *ri,
     int new_len;
 
     /* Bits other than [3:0] are RAZ/WI.  */
+    QEMU_BUILD_BUG_ON(ARM_MAX_VQ > 16);
     raw_write(env, ri, value & 0xf);
 
     /*