diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost-backend.c b/hw/virtio/vhost-backend.c
index b65f8f7e97..44f7dbb243 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost-backend.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost-backend.c
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ static int vhost_kernel_memslots_limit(struct vhost_dev *dev)
     if (g_file_get_contents("/sys/module/vhost/parameters/max_mem_regions",
                             &s, NULL, NULL)) {
         uint64_t val = g_ascii_strtoull(s, NULL, 10);
-        if (!((val == G_MAXUINT64 || !val) && errno)) {
+        if (val < INT_MAX && val > 0) {
             g_free(s);
             return val;
         }