diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
index 524b63e5c7..4d832fe845 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
@@ -615,8 +615,12 @@ static MemoryRegion *virtio_address_space_lookup(VirtIOPCIProxy *proxy,
         reg = &proxy->regs[i];
         if (*off >= reg->offset &&
             *off + len <= reg->offset + reg->size) {
-            *off -= reg->offset;
-            return &reg->mr;
+            MemoryRegionSection mrs = memory_region_find(&reg->mr,
+                                        *off - reg->offset, len);
+            assert(mrs.mr);
+            *off = mrs.offset_within_region;
+            memory_region_unref(mrs.mr);
+            return mrs.mr;
         }
     }