diff --git a/src/cpu/cpu.c b/src/cpu/cpu.c
index 6ff88d6a9f..dfedf5bbf0 100644
--- a/src/cpu/cpu.c
+++ b/src/cpu/cpu.c
@@ -884,7 +884,8 @@ virCPUTranslate(virArch arch,
         return -1;
 
     if (cpu->mode == VIR_CPU_MODE_HOST_MODEL ||
-        cpu->mode == VIR_CPU_MODE_HOST_PASSTHROUGH)
+        cpu->mode == VIR_CPU_MODE_HOST_PASSTHROUGH ||
+        cpu->mode == VIR_CPU_MODE_MAXIMUM)
         return 0;
 
     if (virCPUModelIsAllowed(cpu->model, models))
diff --git a/src/cpu/cpu_ppc64.c b/src/cpu/cpu_ppc64.c
index d71d147207..3e34b14f79 100644
--- a/src/cpu/cpu_ppc64.c
+++ b/src/cpu/cpu_ppc64.c
@@ -474,8 +474,14 @@ ppc64Compute(virCPUDefPtr host,
             G_GNUC_FALLTHROUGH;
 
         case VIR_CPU_MODE_HOST_PASSTHROUGH:
-            /* host-model and host-passthrough:
-             * the guest CPU is the same as the host */
+        case VIR_CPU_MODE_MAXIMUM:
+            /* host-model, host-passthrough & maximum:
+             * the guest CPU is the same as the host.
+             *
+             * Note for maximum, with non hardware virt
+             * the guest CPU is actually arbitrarily defined by
+             * the emulator, so this isn't strictly correct.
+             */
             guest_model = ppc64ModelCopy(host_model);
             break;
 
diff --git a/src/cpu/cpu_x86.c b/src/cpu/cpu_x86.c
index 2422e258ec..fe423f38f9 100644
--- a/src/cpu/cpu_x86.c
+++ b/src/cpu/cpu_x86.c
@@ -3050,7 +3050,8 @@ virCPUx86UpdateLive(virCPUDefPtr cpu,
                     virCPUDataPtr dataEnabled,
                     virCPUDataPtr dataDisabled)
 {
-    bool hostPassthrough = cpu->mode == VIR_CPU_MODE_HOST_PASSTHROUGH;
+    bool hostPassthrough = (cpu->mode == VIR_CPU_MODE_HOST_PASSTHROUGH ||
+                            cpu->mode == VIR_CPU_MODE_MAXIMUM);
     virCPUx86MapPtr map;
     g_autoptr(virCPUx86Model) model = NULL;
     g_autoptr(virCPUx86Model) modelDisabled = NULL;