diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 17b0134ab8..4d7008396e 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -598,6 +598,26 @@ struct _virQEMUCapsAccel {
     qemuMonitorCPUDefsPtr cpuModels;
 };
 
+
+typedef struct _virQEMUDomainCapsCache virQEMUDomainCapsCache;
+typedef virQEMUDomainCapsCache *virQEMUDomainCapsCachePtr;
+struct _virQEMUDomainCapsCache {
+    virObjectLockable parent;
+
+    virHashTablePtr cache;
+};
+
+G_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_CLEANUP_FUNC(virQEMUDomainCapsCache, virObjectUnref);
+
+static virClassPtr virQEMUDomainCapsCacheClass;
+static void virQEMUDomainCapsCacheDispose(void *obj)
+{
+    virQEMUDomainCapsCachePtr cache = obj;
+
+    virHashFree(cache->cache);
+}
+
+
 /*
  * Update the XML parser/formatter when adding more
  * information to this struct so that it gets cached
@@ -629,7 +649,7 @@ struct _virQEMUCaps {
 
     virArch arch;
 
-    virHashTablePtr domCapsCache;
+    virQEMUDomainCapsCachePtr domCapsCache;
 
     size_t ngicCapabilities;
     virGICCapability *gicCapabilities;
@@ -655,6 +675,9 @@ static int virQEMUCapsOnceInit(void)
     if (!VIR_CLASS_NEW(virQEMUCaps, virClassForObject()))
         return -1;
 
+    if (!(VIR_CLASS_NEW(virQEMUDomainCapsCache, virClassForObjectLockable())))
+        return -1;
+
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -1625,6 +1648,22 @@ int virQEMUCapsGetDefaultVersion(virCapsPtr caps,
 }
 
 
+static virQEMUDomainCapsCachePtr
+virQEMUDomainCapsCacheNew(void)
+{
+    g_autoptr(virQEMUDomainCapsCache) cache = NULL;
+
+    if (virQEMUCapsInitialize() < 0)
+        return NULL;
+
+    if (!(cache = virObjectLockableNew(virQEMUDomainCapsCacheClass)))
+        return NULL;
+
+    if (!(cache->cache = virHashCreate(5, virObjectFreeHashData)))
+        return NULL;
+
+    return g_steal_pointer(&cache);
+}
 
 
 virQEMUCapsPtr
@@ -1642,7 +1681,7 @@ virQEMUCapsNew(void)
     if (!(qemuCaps->flags = virBitmapNew(QEMU_CAPS_LAST)))
         goto error;
 
-    if (!(qemuCaps->domCapsCache = virHashCreate(5, virObjectFreeHashData)))
+    if (!(qemuCaps->domCapsCache = virQEMUDomainCapsCacheNew()))
         goto error;
 
     return qemuCaps;
@@ -1832,7 +1871,7 @@ void virQEMUCapsDispose(void *obj)
 {
     virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps = obj;
 
-    virHashFree(qemuCaps->domCapsCache);
+    virObjectUnref(qemuCaps->domCapsCache);
     virBitmapFree(qemuCaps->flags);
 
     VIR_FREE(qemuCaps->package);
@@ -1992,9 +2031,82 @@ const char *virQEMUCapsGetPackage(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
 }
 
 
-virHashTablePtr virQEMUCapsGetDomainCapsCache(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
+struct virQEMUCapsSearchDomcapsData {
+    const char *path;
+    const char *machine;
+    virArch arch;
+    virDomainVirtType virttype;
+};
+
+
+static int
+virQEMUCapsSearchDomcaps(const void *payload,
+                         const void *name G_GNUC_UNUSED,
+                         const void *opaque)
 {
-    return qemuCaps->domCapsCache;
+    virDomainCapsPtr domCaps = (virDomainCapsPtr) payload;
+    struct virQEMUCapsSearchDomcapsData *data = (struct virQEMUCapsSearchDomcapsData *) opaque;
+
+    if (STREQ_NULLABLE(data->path, domCaps->path) &&
+        STREQ_NULLABLE(data->machine, domCaps->machine) &&
+        data->arch == domCaps->arch &&
+        data->virttype == domCaps->virttype)
+        return 1;
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
+virDomainCapsPtr
+virQEMUCapsGetDomainCapsCache(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                              const char *machine,
+                              virArch arch,
+                              virDomainVirtType virttype,
+                              virArch hostarch,
+                              bool privileged,
+                              virFirmwarePtr *firmwares,
+                              size_t nfirmwares)
+{
+    virQEMUDomainCapsCachePtr cache = qemuCaps->domCapsCache;
+    virDomainCapsPtr domCaps = NULL;
+    const char *path = virQEMUCapsGetBinary(qemuCaps);
+    struct virQEMUCapsSearchDomcapsData data = {
+        .path = path,
+        .machine = machine,
+        .arch = arch,
+        .virttype = virttype,
+    };
+
+    virObjectLock(cache);
+
+    domCaps = virHashSearch(cache->cache, virQEMUCapsSearchDomcaps, &data, NULL);
+
+    if (!domCaps) {
+        g_autoptr(virDomainCaps) tempDomCaps = NULL;
+        g_autofree char *key = NULL;
+
+        /* hash miss, build new domcaps */
+        if (!(tempDomCaps = virDomainCapsNew(path, machine,
+                                             arch, virttype)))
+            goto cleanup;
+
+        if (virQEMUCapsFillDomainCaps(qemuCaps, hostarch, tempDomCaps,
+                                      privileged, firmwares, nfirmwares) < 0)
+            goto cleanup;
+
+        key = g_strdup_printf("%d:%d:%s:%s", arch, virttype,
+                              NULLSTR(machine), path);
+
+        if (virHashAddEntry(cache->cache, key, tempDomCaps) < 0)
+            goto cleanup;
+
+        domCaps = g_steal_pointer(&tempDomCaps);
+    }
+
+    virObjectRef(domCaps);
+ cleanup:
+    virObjectUnlock(cache);
+    return domCaps;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
index ebfdb4b981..e110805456 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
@@ -575,7 +575,17 @@ const char *virQEMUCapsGetBinary(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps);
 virArch virQEMUCapsGetArch(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps);
 unsigned int virQEMUCapsGetVersion(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps);
 const char *virQEMUCapsGetPackage(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps);
-virHashTablePtr virQEMUCapsGetDomainCapsCache(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps);
+
+virDomainCapsPtr
+virQEMUCapsGetDomainCapsCache(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                              const char *machine,
+                              virArch arch,
+                              virDomainVirtType virttype,
+                              virArch hostarch,
+                              bool privileged,
+                              virFirmwarePtr *firmwares,
+                              size_t nfirmwares);
+
 unsigned int virQEMUCapsGetKVMVersion(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps);
 int virQEMUCapsAddCPUDefinitions(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                                  virDomainVirtType type,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
index 1204b189fa..e500da1515 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
@@ -1338,31 +1338,6 @@ virCapsPtr virQEMUDriverGetCapabilities(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
 }
 
 
-struct virQEMUDriverSearchDomcapsData {
-    const char *path;
-    const char *machine;
-    virArch arch;
-    virDomainVirtType virttype;
-};
-
-
-static int
-virQEMUDriverSearchDomcaps(const void *payload,
-                           const void *name G_GNUC_UNUSED,
-                           const void *opaque)
-{
-    virDomainCapsPtr domCaps = (virDomainCapsPtr) payload;
-    struct virQEMUDriverSearchDomcapsData *data = (struct virQEMUDriverSearchDomcapsData *) opaque;
-
-    if (STREQ_NULLABLE(data->path, domCaps->path) &&
-        STREQ_NULLABLE(data->machine, domCaps->machine) &&
-        data->arch == domCaps->arch &&
-        data->virttype == domCaps->virttype)
-        return 1;
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
 /**
  * virQEMUDriverGetDomainCapabilities:
  *
@@ -1381,40 +1356,16 @@ virQEMUDriverGetDomainCapabilities(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                                    virArch arch,
                                    virDomainVirtType virttype)
 {
-    g_autoptr(virDomainCaps) domCaps = NULL;
     g_autoptr(virQEMUDriverConfig) cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(driver);
-    virHashTablePtr domCapsCache = virQEMUCapsGetDomainCapsCache(qemuCaps);
-    struct virQEMUDriverSearchDomcapsData data = {
-        .path = virQEMUCapsGetBinary(qemuCaps),
-        .machine = machine,
-        .arch = arch,
-        .virttype = virttype,
-    };
 
-    domCaps = virHashSearch(domCapsCache,
-                            virQEMUDriverSearchDomcaps, &data, NULL);
-    if (!domCaps) {
-        g_autofree char *key = NULL;
-
-        /* hash miss, build new domcaps */
-        if (!(domCaps = virDomainCapsNew(data.path, data.machine,
-                                         data.arch, data.virttype)))
-            return NULL;
-
-        if (virQEMUCapsFillDomainCaps(qemuCaps, driver->hostarch, domCaps,
-                                      driver->privileged,
-                                      cfg->firmwares, cfg->nfirmwares) < 0)
-            return NULL;
-
-        key = g_strdup_printf("%d:%d:%s:%s", data.arch, data.virttype,
-                              NULLSTR(data.machine), NULLSTR(data.path));
-
-        if (virHashAddEntry(domCapsCache, key, domCaps) < 0)
-            return NULL;
-    }
-
-    virObjectRef(domCaps);
-    return g_steal_pointer(&domCaps);
+    return virQEMUCapsGetDomainCapsCache(qemuCaps,
+                                         machine,
+                                         arch,
+                                         virttype,
+                                         driver->hostarch,
+                                         driver->privileged,
+                                         cfg->firmwares,
+                                         cfg->nfirmwares);
 }