diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_parse_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_parse_command.c
index d0a9dc0dcc..fb8d3d8045 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_parse_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_parse_command.c
@@ -1645,8 +1645,15 @@ qemuParseCommandLineMem(virDomainDefPtr dom,
         return -1;
     }
 
-    virDomainDefSetMemoryTotal(dom, mem * 1024);
-    dom->mem.cur_balloon = mem * 1024;
+    if (virScaleInteger(&mem, end, 1024*1024, ULLONG_MAX) < 0) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                       _("cannot scale memory: %s"),
+                       virGetLastErrorMessage());
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    virDomainDefSetMemoryTotal(dom, mem / 1024);
+    dom->mem.cur_balloon = mem / 1024;
 
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-mem-scale.args b/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-mem-scale.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..90da94d46e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-mem-scale.args
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+LC_ALL=C \
+PATH=/bin \
+HOME=/home/test \
+USER=test \
+LOGNAME=test \
+QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
+/usr/bin/qemu \
+-name QEMUGuest1 \
+-S \
+-M pc \
+-m 2G \
+-smp 1,maxcpus=2,sockets=2,cores=1,threads=1 \
+-uuid c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809 \
+-nographic \
+-monitor unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait \
+-no-acpi \
+-boot c \
+-usb \
+-drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,format=raw,if=ide,bus=0,unit=0 \
+-net none \
+-serial none \
+-parallel none
diff --git a/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-mem-scale.xml b/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-mem-scale.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d4091f7708
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-mem-scale.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>2097152</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>2097152</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static' current='1'>2</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <cpu>
+    <topology sockets='2' cores='1' threads='1'/>
+  </cpu>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='usb' index='0'>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>
+    </controller>
+    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>
+    </controller>
+    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
+    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>
+    <memballoon model='none'/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuargv2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuargv2xmltest.c
index 73d3f5c221..0fe6b9b016 100644
--- a/tests/qemuargv2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuargv2xmltest.c
@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ mymain(void)
 
     DO_TEST("hostdev-pci-address");
 
+    DO_TEST("mem-scale");
     DO_TEST("smp");
 
     DO_TEST("hyperv");