diff --git a/hw/core/numa.c b/hw/core/numa.c
index 316bc50d75b0787fd91316d5155a1d915e610831..5f81900f88c864f3aa3fa7b517e04dbae5e9ab00 100644
--- a/hw/core/numa.c
+++ b/hw/core/numa.c
@@ -757,6 +757,11 @@ void numa_complete_configuration(MachineState *ms)
         }
 
         if (!numa_uses_legacy_mem() && mc->default_ram_id) {
+            if (ms->ram_memdev_id) {
+                error_report("'-machine memory-backend' and '-numa memdev'"
+                             " properties are mutually exclusive");
+                exit(1);
+            }
             ms->ram = g_new(MemoryRegion, 1);
             memory_region_init(ms->ram, OBJECT(ms), mc->default_ram_id,
                                ram_size);