diff --git a/virt/kvm/arm/pmu.c b/virt/kvm/arm/pmu.c
index 8731dfeced8b..c3f8b059881e 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/arm/pmu.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/arm/pmu.c
@@ -486,6 +486,9 @@ void kvm_pmu_software_increment(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u64 val)
 	if (val == 0)
 		return;
 
+	if (!(__vcpu_sys_reg(vcpu, PMCR_EL0) & ARMV8_PMU_PMCR_E))
+		return;
+
 	enable = __vcpu_sys_reg(vcpu, PMCNTENSET_EL0);
 	for (i = 0; i < ARMV8_PMU_CYCLE_IDX; i++) {
 		if (!(val & BIT(i)))