diff --git a/hw/vhost.c b/hw/vhost.c
index 0fd8da84e2b8ee80d589eda3f6fbf5371899f1db..d0ce5aad9b76f57a021fb3dc19b2e71917a3681f 100644
--- a/hw/vhost.c
+++ b/hw/vhost.c
@@ -747,14 +747,15 @@ static void vhost_eventfd_del(MemoryListener *listener,
 {
 }
 
-int vhost_dev_init(struct vhost_dev *hdev, int devfd, bool force)
+int vhost_dev_init(struct vhost_dev *hdev, int devfd, const char *devpath,
+                   bool force)
 {
     uint64_t features;
     int r;
     if (devfd >= 0) {
         hdev->control = devfd;
     } else {
-        hdev->control = open("/dev/vhost-net", O_RDWR);
+        hdev->control = open(devpath, O_RDWR);
         if (hdev->control < 0) {
             return -errno;
         }
diff --git a/hw/vhost.h b/hw/vhost.h
index 80e64df860b7bc37b0cd9029e6c1177eb1e1eb6a..0c47229f91b0cb14409e321cc5f3819d7e45bad9 100644
--- a/hw/vhost.h
+++ b/hw/vhost.h
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ struct vhost_dev {
     bool force;
 };
 
-int vhost_dev_init(struct vhost_dev *hdev, int devfd, bool force);
+int vhost_dev_init(struct vhost_dev *hdev, int devfd, const char *devpath,
+                   bool force);
 void vhost_dev_cleanup(struct vhost_dev *hdev);
 bool vhost_dev_query(struct vhost_dev *hdev, VirtIODevice *vdev);
 int vhost_dev_start(struct vhost_dev *hdev, VirtIODevice *vdev);
diff --git a/hw/vhost_net.c b/hw/vhost_net.c
index ecaa22dfb4e28b4cfcc4508e4a1b1ca451da8c93..df2c4a30a28190d07325f33d06c71a9723e6e6b6 100644
--- a/hw/vhost_net.c
+++ b/hw/vhost_net.c
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ struct vhost_net *vhost_net_init(NetClientState *backend, int devfd,
         (1 << VHOST_NET_F_VIRTIO_NET_HDR);
     net->backend = r;
 
-    r = vhost_dev_init(&net->dev, devfd, force);
+    r = vhost_dev_init(&net->dev, devfd, "/dev/vhost-net", force);
     if (r < 0) {
         goto fail;
     }