diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_cgroup.c b/src/qemu/qemu_cgroup.c
index b5bdb362dac72a4d404cc19f86dac1244fd912d3..a87ef406a17ae4fe3f62a8509f3600d3c0a100c7 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_cgroup.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_cgroup.c
@@ -618,6 +618,10 @@ qemuSetupCpusetMems(virDomainObjPtr vm,
     if (!virCgroupHasController(priv->cgroup, VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_CPUSET))
         return 0;
 
+    if (virDomainNumatuneGetMode(vm->def->numatune, -1) !=
+        VIR_DOMAIN_NUMATUNE_MEM_STRICT)
+        return 0;
+
     if (virDomainNumatuneMaybeFormatNodeset(vm->def->numatune,
                                             nodemask,
                                             &mem_mask, -1) < 0)