diff --git a/src/conf/cpu_conf.c b/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
index 76f04c353142cb2195f6c5c80fc5bce196bdf446..669935acf8826ddf9756fbd96d8398a7daa6ae23 100644
--- a/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
@@ -773,24 +773,22 @@ virCPUDefUpdateFeatureInternal(virCPUDefPtr def,
                                int policy,
                                bool update)
 {
-    size_t i;
+    virCPUFeatureDefPtr feat;
 
     if (def->type == VIR_CPU_TYPE_HOST)
         policy = -1;
 
-    for (i = 0; i < def->nfeatures; i++) {
-        if (STREQ(name, def->features[i].name)) {
-            if (update) {
-                def->features[i].policy = policy;
-                return 0;
-            }
+    if ((feat = virCPUDefFindFeature(def, name))) {
+        if (update) {
+            feat->policy = policy;
+            return 0;
+        }
 
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                           _("CPU feature '%s' specified more than once"),
-                           name);
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                       _("CPU feature '%s' specified more than once"),
+                       name);
 
-            return -1;
-        }
+        return -1;
     }
 
     if (VIR_RESIZE_N(def->features, def->nfeatures_max,
@@ -822,6 +820,22 @@ virCPUDefAddFeature(virCPUDefPtr def,
     return virCPUDefUpdateFeatureInternal(def, name, policy, false);
 }
 
+
+virCPUFeatureDefPtr
+virCPUDefFindFeature(virCPUDefPtr def,
+                     const char *name)
+{
+    size_t i;
+
+    for (i = 0; i < def->nfeatures; i++) {
+        if (STREQ(name, def->features[i].name))
+            return def->features + i;
+    }
+
+    return NULL;
+}
+
+
 bool
 virCPUDefIsEqual(virCPUDefPtr src,
                  virCPUDefPtr dst,
diff --git a/src/conf/cpu_conf.h b/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
index b1a512b19a265982e9716bc4d6f71f50dffe7baf..d1983f5d4f9dd5b4bf4c404d7dd364ecb8e33712 100644
--- a/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
@@ -215,6 +215,10 @@ virCPUDefUpdateFeature(virCPUDefPtr cpu,
                        const char *name,
                        int policy);
 
+virCPUFeatureDefPtr
+virCPUDefFindFeature(virCPUDefPtr def,
+                     const char *name);
+
 virCPUDefPtr *
 virCPUDefListParse(const char **xmlCPUs,
                    unsigned int ncpus,
diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 44c968834797297b53cf2ebe792650f2dc567437..7bd21ae233b877f7abfc4f59ccfe9ed9864506af 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ virCPUDefCopy;
 virCPUDefCopyModel;
 virCPUDefCopyModelFilter;
 virCPUDefCopyWithoutModel;
+virCPUDefFindFeature;
 virCPUDefFormat;
 virCPUDefFormatBuf;
 virCPUDefFormatBufFull;