diff --git a/src/cpu/cpu.c b/src/cpu/cpu.c
index ae3a0acc10e0d2b39f939522249521cd9b5af227..6d6191fe4e5fd8f65a42701e39a7a22a42d42c5b 100644
--- a/src/cpu/cpu.c
+++ b/src/cpu/cpu.c
@@ -1096,3 +1096,27 @@ virCPUDataAddFeature(virCPUDataPtr cpuData,
 
     return driver->dataAddFeature(cpuData, name);
 }
+
+
+/**
+ * virCPUArchIsSupported:
+ *
+ * @arch: CPU architecture
+ *
+ * Returns true if the architecture is supported by any CPU driver.
+ */
+bool
+virCPUArchIsSupported(virArch arch)
+{
+    size_t i;
+    size_t j;
+
+    for (i = 0; i < G_N_ELEMENTS(drivers); i++) {
+        for (j = 0; j < drivers[i]->narch; j++) {
+            if (arch == drivers[i]->arch[j])
+                return true;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return false;
+}
diff --git a/src/cpu/cpu.h b/src/cpu/cpu.h
index 2e8b8923ae23784b900c372c59c67847c974802a..f779d2be176e10feca3e2442d44d91a59913d729 100644
--- a/src/cpu/cpu.h
+++ b/src/cpu/cpu.h
@@ -265,6 +265,9 @@ int
 virCPUDataAddFeature(virCPUDataPtr cpuData,
                      const char *name);
 
+bool
+virCPUArchIsSupported(virArch arch);
+
 /* virCPUDataFormat and virCPUDataParse are implemented for unit tests only and
  * have no real-life usage
  */
diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 3fc8d7de3fcf1a8cf85e94d9010f83c1856d5028..de0c7a313386c16d252071b7c010f20fd0cf8f13 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -1310,6 +1310,7 @@ virStoragePoolObjVolumeListExport;
 # cpu/cpu.h
 cpuDecode;
 cpuEncode;
+virCPUArchIsSupported;
 virCPUBaseline;
 virCPUCheckFeature;
 virCPUCompare;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index a28b51c10e354b896f49b765e119af24a11f716c..3dfa71650db1a1e5f5b91d62e29a3e55dd77ee23 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -4576,6 +4576,9 @@ qemuDomainDefSetDefaultCPU(virDomainDefPtr def,
          def->cpu->model))
         return 0;
 
+    if (!virCPUArchIsSupported(def->os.arch))
+        return 0;
+
     /* Default CPU model info from QEMU is usable for TCG only except for
      * x86, s390, and ppc64. */
     if (!ARCH_IS_X86(def->os.arch) &&