diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c
index 2f03cbfefe67..e4727dc771bf 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c
@@ -223,7 +223,14 @@ int kvm_vm_ioctl_check_extension(struct kvm *kvm, long ext)
 		r = 1;
 		break;
 	case KVM_CAP_NR_VCPUS:
-		r = num_online_cpus();
+		/*
+		 * ARM64 treats KVM_CAP_NR_CPUS differently from all other
+		 * architectures, as it does not always bound it to
+		 * KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPUS. It should not matter much because
+		 * this is just an advisory value.
+		 */
+		r = min_t(unsigned int, num_online_cpus(),
+			  kvm_arm_default_max_vcpus());
 		break;
 	case KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPUS:
 	case KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPU_ID: