1 files changed, 5 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/system/physmem.c b/system/physmem.c
index 67bdf631e6..eff8b55c2d 100644
--- a/system/physmem.c
+++ b/system/physmem.c
@@ -1882,7 +1882,11 @@ static void ram_block_add(RAMBlock *new_block, Error **errp)
     if (new_block->flags & RAM_GUEST_MEMFD) {
         int ret;
 
-        assert(kvm_enabled());
+        if (!kvm_enabled()) {
+            error_setg(errp, "cannot set up private guest memory for %s: KVM required",
+                       object_get_typename(OBJECT(current_machine->cgs)));
+            goto out_free;
+        }
         assert(new_block->guest_memfd < 0);
 
         ret = ram_block_discard_require(true);