diff --git a/target/arm/cpu.c b/target/arm/cpu.c
index 93c28d50e5..365ecd3939 100644
--- a/target/arm/cpu.c
+++ b/target/arm/cpu.c
@@ -1551,6 +1551,16 @@ void arm_cpu_finalize_features(ARMCPU *cpu, Error **errp)
             return;
         }
 
+        /*
+         * FEAT_SME is not architecturally dependent on FEAT_SVE (unless
+         * FEAT_SME_FA64 is present). However our implementation currently
+         * assumes it, so if the user asked for sve=off then turn off SME also.
+         * (KVM doesn't currently support SME at all.)
+         */
+        if (cpu_isar_feature(aa64_sme, cpu) && !cpu_isar_feature(aa64_sve, cpu)) {
+            object_property_set_bool(OBJECT(cpu), "sme", false, &error_abort);
+        }
+
         arm_cpu_sme_finalize(cpu, &local_err);
         if (local_err != NULL) {
             error_propagate(errp, local_err);