diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/perf_event_intel_rapl.c b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/perf_event_intel_rapl.c
index 7c87424d4140..619f7699487a 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/perf_event_intel_rapl.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/perf_event_intel_rapl.c
@@ -543,7 +543,8 @@ static int rapl_cpu_prepare(int cpu)
 	if (phys_id < 0)
 		return -1;
 
-	if (!rdmsrl_safe(MSR_RAPL_POWER_UNIT, &msr_rapl_power_unit_bits))
+	/* protect rdmsrl() to handle virtualization */
+	if (rdmsrl_safe(MSR_RAPL_POWER_UNIT, &msr_rapl_power_unit_bits))
 		return -1;
 
 	pmu = kzalloc_node(sizeof(*pmu), GFP_KERNEL, cpu_to_node(cpu));