diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 9b7dde66e7..4cf4069d50 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -6047,6 +6047,26 @@ qemuProcessSetupHotpluggableVcpus(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
 }
 
 
+static bool
+qemuProcessDropUnknownCPUFeatures(const char *name,
+                                  virCPUFeaturePolicy policy,
+                                  void *opaque)
+{
+    const char **features = opaque;
+
+    if (policy != VIR_CPU_FEATURE_DISABLE &&
+        policy != VIR_CPU_FEATURE_FORBID)
+        return true;
+
+    if (virStringListHasString(features, name))
+        return true;
+
+    /* Features unknown to QEMU are implicitly disabled, we can just drop them
+     * from the definition. */
+    return false;
+}
+
+
 static int
 qemuProcessUpdateGuestCPU(virDomainDefPtr def,
                           virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
@@ -6112,6 +6132,18 @@ qemuProcessUpdateGuestCPU(virDomainDefPtr def,
                                 &def->os.arch) < 0)
         return -1;
 
+    if (ARCH_IS_X86(def->os.arch)) {
+        VIR_AUTOSTRINGLIST features = NULL;
+
+        if (virQEMUCapsGetCPUFeatures(qemuCaps, def->virtType, false, &features) < 0)
+            return -1;
+
+        if (features &&
+            virCPUDefFilterFeatures(def->cpu, qemuProcessDropUnknownCPUFeatures,
+                                    features) < 0)
+            return -1;
+    }
+
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/cpu-Icelake-Server-pconfig.x86_64-latest.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/cpu-Icelake-Server-pconfig.x86_64-latest.args
index d6f5a0ad98..88d05a482a 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/cpu-Icelake-Server-pconfig.x86_64-latest.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/cpu-Icelake-Server-pconfig.x86_64-latest.args
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
 -object secret,id=masterKey0,format=raw,\
 file=/tmp/lib/domain--1-test/master-key.aes \
 -machine pc,accel=kvm,usb=off,dump-guest-core=off \
--cpu Icelake-Server,pconfig=off \
+-cpu Icelake-Server \
 -m 214 \
 -overcommit mem-lock=off \
 -smp 1,sockets=1,cores=1,threads=1 \