diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c b/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c
index 13db321997..58d5dc7084 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr_numa.c
@@ -539,6 +539,17 @@ static void spapr_numa_FORM2_write_rtas_tables(SpaprMachineState *spapr,
 
     for (src = 0; src < nb_numa_nodes; src++) {
         for (dst = 0; dst < nb_numa_nodes; dst++) {
+            /*
+             * We need to be explicit with the local distance
+             * value to cover the case where the user didn't added any
+             * NUMA nodes, but QEMU adds the default NUMA node without
+             * adding the numa_info to retrieve distance info from.
+             */
+            if (src == dst) {
+                node_distances[i++] = 10;
+                continue;
+            }
+
             node_distances[i++] = numa_info[src].distance[dst];
         }
     }