diff --git a/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c b/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
index 71e6060458..51526d301b 100644
--- a/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
+++ b/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
@@ -471,7 +471,9 @@ int kvm_create_vcpu(CPUState *cpu)
 
     cpu->kvm_fd = kvm_fd;
     cpu->kvm_state = s;
-    cpu->vcpu_dirty = true;
+    if (!s->guest_state_protected) {
+        cpu->vcpu_dirty = true;
+    }
     cpu->dirty_pages = 0;
     cpu->throttle_us_per_full = 0;