diff --git a/target/riscv/cpu.c b/target/riscv/cpu.c
index 3cc7cfd7ef..7b9d0c7e52 100644
--- a/target/riscv/cpu.c
+++ b/target/riscv/cpu.c
@@ -959,8 +959,6 @@ static void riscv_cpu_disas_set_info(CPUState *s, disassemble_info *info)
 static void riscv_cpu_validate_v(CPURISCVState *env, RISCVCPUConfig *cfg,
                                  Error **errp)
 {
-    int vext_version = VEXT_VERSION_1_00_0;
-
     if (!is_power_of_2(cfg->vlen)) {
         error_setg(errp, "Vector extension VLEN must be power of 2");
         return;
@@ -983,17 +981,18 @@ static void riscv_cpu_validate_v(CPURISCVState *env, RISCVCPUConfig *cfg,
     }
     if (cfg->vext_spec) {
         if (!g_strcmp0(cfg->vext_spec, "v1.0")) {
-            vext_version = VEXT_VERSION_1_00_0;
+            env->vext_ver = VEXT_VERSION_1_00_0;
         } else {
             error_setg(errp, "Unsupported vector spec version '%s'",
                        cfg->vext_spec);
             return;
         }
-    } else {
+    } else if (env->vext_ver == 0) {
         qemu_log("vector version is not specified, "
                  "use the default value v1.0\n");
+
+        env->vext_ver = VEXT_VERSION_1_00_0;
     }
-    env->vext_ver = vext_version;
 }
 
 static void riscv_cpu_validate_priv_spec(RISCVCPU *cpu, Error **errp)