diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index 79056c6ae507245ba14122a9cdcdd20eafc2aebf..5bd3b49452c6248a821fe63c9796584bd4fd6927 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -1111,9 +1111,12 @@ static void perf_evlist__propagate_maps(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 		 * We already have cpus for evsel (via PMU sysfs) so
 		 * keep it, if there's no target cpu list defined.
 		 */
-		if (!evsel->cpus || evlist->has_user_cpus) {
+		if (!evsel->own_cpus || evlist->has_user_cpus) {
 			cpu_map__put(evsel->cpus);
 			evsel->cpus = cpu_map__get(evlist->cpus);
+		} else if (evsel->cpus != evsel->own_cpus) {
+			cpu_map__put(evsel->cpus);
+			evsel->cpus = cpu_map__get(evsel->own_cpus);
 		}
 
 		thread_map__put(evsel->threads);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evsel.c b/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
index c53f79123b37f4ab506f3a914263d59c3122cfb6..5410483d52198c5909ec5a502c61567c5119c8ef 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
@@ -1033,6 +1033,7 @@ void perf_evsel__exit(struct perf_evsel *evsel)
 	perf_evsel__free_config_terms(evsel);
 	close_cgroup(evsel->cgrp);
 	cpu_map__put(evsel->cpus);
+	cpu_map__put(evsel->own_cpus);
 	thread_map__put(evsel->threads);
 	zfree(&evsel->group_name);
 	zfree(&evsel->name);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evsel.h b/tools/perf/util/evsel.h
index 298e6bbca200bd4740bddc4e6bb1fce7414d5bf4..ef8925f7211a4a311c927e6919d83817745eb1cf 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evsel.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evsel.h
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ struct perf_evsel {
 	struct cgroup_sel	*cgrp;
 	void			*handler;
 	struct cpu_map		*cpus;
+	struct cpu_map		*own_cpus;
 	struct thread_map	*threads;
 	unsigned int		sample_size;
 	int			id_pos;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/parse-events.c b/tools/perf/util/parse-events.c
index 7e8ae21906e2a87a02d7043b80917ccc6f8fbe66..21ed6ee63da9747d1215ac638f936357c8df2e8c 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/parse-events.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/parse-events.c
@@ -287,8 +287,8 @@ __add_event(struct list_head *list, int *idx,
 	if (!evsel)
 		return NULL;
 
-	if (cpus)
-		evsel->cpus = cpu_map__get(cpus);
+	evsel->cpus     = cpu_map__get(cpus);
+	evsel->own_cpus = cpu_map__get(cpus);
 
 	if (name)
 		evsel->name = strdup(name);