diff --git a/target/arm/kvm.c b/target/arm/kvm.c
index 5d55de1a49..94b970bbf9 100644
--- a/target/arm/kvm.c
+++ b/target/arm/kvm.c
@@ -70,12 +70,17 @@ bool kvm_arm_create_scratch_host_vcpu(const uint32_t *cpus_to_try,
                                       struct kvm_vcpu_init *init)
 {
     int ret = 0, kvmfd = -1, vmfd = -1, cpufd = -1;
+    int max_vm_pa_size;
 
     kvmfd = qemu_open_old("/dev/kvm", O_RDWR);
     if (kvmfd < 0) {
         goto err;
     }
-    vmfd = ioctl(kvmfd, KVM_CREATE_VM, 0);
+    max_vm_pa_size = ioctl(kvmfd, KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, KVM_CAP_ARM_VM_IPA_SIZE);
+    if (max_vm_pa_size < 0) {
+        max_vm_pa_size = 0;
+    }
+    vmfd = ioctl(kvmfd, KVM_CREATE_VM, max_vm_pa_size);
     if (vmfd < 0) {
         goto err;
     }