diff --git a/hw/core/machine.c b/hw/core/machine.c
index 80647edc2a873da84d56775d0ffd48783a152224..36c2fb069c0108f07e380dd8078b3960929355c3 100644
--- a/hw/core/machine.c
+++ b/hw/core/machine.c
@@ -758,6 +758,38 @@ void machine_run_board_init(MachineState *machine)
     if (nb_numa_nodes) {
         machine_numa_finish_init(machine);
     }
+
+    /* If the machine supports the valid_cpu_types check and the user
+     * specified a CPU with -cpu check here that the user CPU is supported.
+     */
+    if (machine_class->valid_cpu_types && machine->cpu_type) {
+        ObjectClass *class = object_class_by_name(machine->cpu_type);
+        int i;
+
+        for (i = 0; machine_class->valid_cpu_types[i]; i++) {
+            if (object_class_dynamic_cast(class,
+                                          machine_class->valid_cpu_types[i])) {
+                /* The user specificed CPU is in the valid field, we are
+                 * good to go.
+                 */
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (!machine_class->valid_cpu_types[i]) {
+            /* The user specified CPU is not valid */
+            error_report("Invalid CPU type: %s", machine->cpu_type);
+            error_printf("The valid types are: %s",
+                         machine_class->valid_cpu_types[0]);
+            for (i = 1; machine_class->valid_cpu_types[i]; i++) {
+                error_printf(", %s", machine_class->valid_cpu_types[i]);
+            }
+            error_printf("\n");
+
+            exit(1);
+        }
+    }
+
     machine_class->init(machine);
 }
 
diff --git a/include/hw/boards.h b/include/hw/boards.h
index 156e0a57014f4944ea251aac8e1a83e8a58ba152..191a5b3cd86849e613f431df5fe73f8220869bca 100644
--- a/include/hw/boards.h
+++ b/include/hw/boards.h
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ struct MachineClass {
     bool has_hotpluggable_cpus;
     bool ignore_memory_transaction_failures;
     int numa_mem_align_shift;
+    const char **valid_cpu_types;
     void (*numa_auto_assign_ram)(MachineClass *mc, NodeInfo *nodes,
                                  int nb_nodes, ram_addr_t size);