diff --git a/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c b/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
index 0386d4901f..f49b2b95b5 100644
--- a/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
+++ b/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
@@ -1431,6 +1431,16 @@ static void kvm_set_phys_mem(KVMMemoryListener *kml,
                     strerror(-err));
             abort();
         }
+
+        if (memory_region_has_guest_memfd(mr)) {
+            err = kvm_set_memory_attributes_private(start_addr, slot_size);
+            if (err) {
+                error_report("%s: failed to set memory attribute private: %s",
+                             __func__, strerror(-err));
+                exit(1);
+            }
+        }
+
         start_addr += slot_size;
         ram_start_offset += slot_size;
         ram += slot_size;