diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 1d98f01334..79a23f34cb 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -1796,6 +1796,7 @@ virCgroupHasController;
 virCgroupHasEmptyTasks;
 virCgroupKillPainfully;
 virCgroupKillRecursive;
+virCgroupNew;
 virCgroupNewDetect;
 virCgroupNewDetectMachine;
 virCgroupNewDomainPartition;
diff --git a/src/util/vircgroup.h b/src/util/vircgroup.h
index 78770f5d3b..f7eed983cc 100644
--- a/src/util/vircgroup.h
+++ b/src/util/vircgroup.h
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ typedef enum {
 
 bool virCgroupAvailable(void);
 
+int virCgroupNew(const char *path,
+                 int controllers,
+                 virCgroupPtr *group);
+
 int virCgroupNewSelf(virCgroupPtr *group)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1);
 
diff --git a/src/util/vircgrouppriv.h b/src/util/vircgrouppriv.h
index baa84550f4..85ba5393e0 100644
--- a/src/util/vircgrouppriv.h
+++ b/src/util/vircgrouppriv.h
@@ -110,10 +110,6 @@ int virCgroupGetValueForBlkDev(const char *str,
                                const char *devPath,
                                char **value);
 
-int virCgroupNew(const char *path,
-                 int controllers,
-                 virCgroupPtr *group);
-
 int virCgroupNewPartition(const char *path,
                           bool create,
                           int controllers,
diff --git a/tools/virt-host-validate-common.c b/tools/virt-host-validate-common.c
index a10ac03293..fc43b2ddc8 100644
--- a/tools/virt-host-validate-common.c
+++ b/tools/virt-host-validate-common.c
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ int virHostValidateCGroupControllers(const char *hvname,
     int ret = 0;
     size_t i;
 
-    if (virCgroupNewSelf(&group) < 0)
+    if (virCgroupNew("/", -1, &group) < 0)
         return -1;
 
     for (i = 0; i < VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST; i++) {