diff --git a/src/conf/domain_capabilities.h b/src/conf/domain_capabilities.h
index a9bf4a8d3f..6ecabc6e77 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_capabilities.h
+++ b/src/conf/domain_capabilities.h
@@ -139,6 +139,8 @@ struct _virDomainCapsCPUModels {
     virDomainCapsCPUModelPtr models;
 };
 
+G_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_CLEANUP_FUNC(virDomainCapsCPUModels, virObjectUnref);
+
 typedef struct _virDomainCapsCPU virDomainCapsCPU;
 typedef virDomainCapsCPU *virDomainCapsCPUPtr;
 struct _virDomainCapsCPU {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 7c30768379..6e5d894a36 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -1885,10 +1885,17 @@ virDomainCapsCPUModelsPtr
 virQEMUCapsGetCPUDefinitions(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                              virDomainVirtType type)
 {
+    virDomainCapsCPUModelsPtr cpuModels;
+
     if (type == VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM)
-        return qemuCaps->kvmCPUModels;
+        cpuModels = qemuCaps->kvmCPUModels;
     else
-        return qemuCaps->tcgCPUModels;
+        cpuModels = qemuCaps->tcgCPUModels;
+
+    if (!cpuModels)
+        return NULL;
+
+    return virDomainCapsCPUModelsCopy(cpuModels);
 }
 
 
@@ -3115,6 +3122,7 @@ virQEMUCapsInitCPUModelX86(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                            virCPUDefPtr cpu,
                            bool migratable)
 {
+    g_autoptr(virDomainCapsCPUModels) cpuModels = NULL;
     virCPUDataPtr data = NULL;
     int ret = -1;
 
@@ -3124,7 +3132,9 @@ virQEMUCapsInitCPUModelX86(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
     if (!(data = virQEMUCapsGetCPUModelX86Data(qemuCaps, model, migratable)))
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if (cpuDecode(cpu, data, virQEMUCapsGetCPUDefinitions(qemuCaps, type)) < 0)
+    cpuModels = virQEMUCapsGetCPUDefinitions(qemuCaps, type);
+
+    if (cpuDecode(cpu, data, cpuModels) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     ret = 0;
@@ -3207,10 +3217,13 @@ virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
     if ((rc = virQEMUCapsInitCPUModel(qemuCaps, type, cpu, false)) < 0) {
         goto error;
     } else if (rc == 1) {
+        g_autoptr(virDomainCapsCPUModels) cpuModels = NULL;
+
         VIR_DEBUG("No host CPU model info from QEMU; probing host CPU directly");
 
-        hostCPU = virQEMUCapsProbeHostCPU(hostArch,
-                                          virQEMUCapsGetCPUDefinitions(qemuCaps, type));
+        cpuModels = virQEMUCapsGetCPUDefinitions(qemuCaps, type);
+        hostCPU = virQEMUCapsProbeHostCPU(hostArch, cpuModels);
+
         if (!hostCPU ||
             virCPUDefCopyModelFilter(cpu, hostCPU, true,
                                      virQEMUCapsCPUFilterFeatures,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index dc14ec86a3..f5e3671c2b 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -13684,7 +13684,7 @@ qemuConnectBaselineHypervisorCPU(virConnectPtr conn,
     g_autoptr(virQEMUCaps) qemuCaps = NULL;
     virArch arch;
     virDomainVirtType virttype;
-    virDomainCapsCPUModelsPtr cpuModels;
+    g_autoptr(virDomainCapsCPUModels) cpuModels = NULL;
     bool migratable;
     virCPUDefPtr cpu = NULL;
     char *cpustr = NULL;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 31d797e143..148d498035 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -6040,6 +6040,8 @@ qemuProcessUpdateGuestCPU(virDomainDefPtr def,
 
     /* nothing to update for host-passthrough */
     if (def->cpu->mode != VIR_CPU_MODE_HOST_PASSTHROUGH) {
+        g_autoptr(virDomainCapsCPUModels) cpuModels = NULL;
+
         if (def->cpu->check == VIR_CPU_CHECK_PARTIAL &&
             virCPUCompare(caps->host.arch,
                           virQEMUCapsGetHostModel(qemuCaps, def->virtType,
@@ -6052,8 +6054,9 @@ qemuProcessUpdateGuestCPU(virDomainDefPtr def,
                                                  VIR_QEMU_CAPS_HOST_CPU_MIGRATABLE)) < 0)
             return -1;
 
-        if (virCPUTranslate(def->os.arch, def->cpu,
-                            virQEMUCapsGetCPUDefinitions(qemuCaps, def->virtType)) < 0)
+        cpuModels = virQEMUCapsGetCPUDefinitions(qemuCaps, def->virtType);
+
+        if (virCPUTranslate(def->os.arch, def->cpu, cpuModels) < 0)
             return -1;
 
         def->cpu->fallback = VIR_CPU_FALLBACK_FORBID;
diff --git a/tests/cputest.c b/tests/cputest.c
index 18c8e8b09c..b8ec76d2fe 100644
--- a/tests/cputest.c
+++ b/tests/cputest.c
@@ -543,7 +543,6 @@ cpuTestGetCPUModels(const struct data *data,
         return -1;
 
     *models = virQEMUCapsGetCPUDefinitions(qemuCaps, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
-    virObjectRef(*models);
 
     virObjectUnref(qemuCaps);