diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
index 158e9a3250..a095cb75c5 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ int qemudLoadDriverConfig(struct qemud_driver *driver,
         for (i = 0, pp = p->list; pp; ++i, pp = pp->next) {
             int ctl;
             if (pp->type != VIR_CONF_STRING) {
-                VIR_ERROR("%s", _("cgroup_device_acl must be a list of strings"));
+                VIR_ERROR("%s", _("cgroup_controllers must be a list of strings"));
                 virConfFree(conf);
                 return -1;
             }