diff --git a/target-arm/kvm.c b/target-arm/kvm.c
index b278542085d0cd29dc283990a8444f9871d0fdb4..6aadcd88f7b39251dcf5783f97d7f6d691611db5 100644
--- a/target-arm/kvm.c
+++ b/target-arm/kvm.c
@@ -585,18 +585,23 @@ void kvm_arch_init_irq_routing(KVMState *s)
 
 int kvm_arch_irqchip_create(KVMState *s)
 {
-    int ret;
-
     /* If we can create the VGIC using the newer device control API, we
      * let the device do this when it initializes itself, otherwise we
      * fall back to the old API */
+    return kvm_check_extension(s, KVM_CAP_DEVICE_CTRL);
+}
 
-    ret = kvm_create_device(s, KVM_DEV_TYPE_ARM_VGIC_V2, true);
-    if (ret == 0) {
-        return 1;
+int kvm_arm_vgic_probe(void)
+{
+    if (kvm_create_device(kvm_state,
+                          KVM_DEV_TYPE_ARM_VGIC_V3, true) == 0) {
+        return 3;
+    } else if (kvm_create_device(kvm_state,
+                                 KVM_DEV_TYPE_ARM_VGIC_V2, true) == 0) {
+        return 2;
+    } else {
+        return 0;
     }
-
-    return 0;
 }
 
 int kvm_arch_fixup_msi_route(struct kvm_irq_routing_entry *route,
diff --git a/target-arm/kvm_arm.h b/target-arm/kvm_arm.h
index b3e0ab7e7cda866749979a0a88da1b3067780fb3..10ce771f653a3bf42bd40e51bf3197746b4cff20 100644
--- a/target-arm/kvm_arm.h
+++ b/target-arm/kvm_arm.h
@@ -189,6 +189,15 @@ int kvm_arm_sync_mpstate_to_kvm(ARMCPU *cpu);
  */
 int kvm_arm_sync_mpstate_to_qemu(ARMCPU *cpu);
 
+int kvm_arm_vgic_probe(void);
+
+#else
+
+static inline int kvm_arm_vgic_probe(void)
+{
+    return 0;
+}
+
 #endif
 
 static inline const char *gic_class_name(void)