diff --git a/hw/arm/virt.c b/hw/arm/virt.c
index ae90ca5771..4dafd42be8 100644
--- a/hw/arm/virt.c
+++ b/hw/arm/virt.c
@@ -1176,6 +1176,10 @@ static void machvirt_init(MachineState *machine)
     VirtGuestInfoState *guest_info_state = g_malloc0(sizeof *guest_info_state);
     VirtGuestInfo *guest_info = &guest_info_state->info;
     char **cpustr;
+    ObjectClass *oc;
+    const char *typename;
+    CPUClass *cc;
+    Error *err = NULL;
     bool firmware_loaded = bios_name || drive_get(IF_PFLASH, 0, 0);
 
     if (!cpu_model) {
@@ -1259,27 +1263,24 @@ static void machvirt_init(MachineState *machine)
 
     create_fdt(vbi);
 
+    oc = cpu_class_by_name(TYPE_ARM_CPU, cpustr[0]);
+    if (!oc) {
+        error_report("Unable to find CPU definition");
+        exit(1);
+    }
+    typename = object_class_get_name(oc);
+
+    /* convert -smp CPU options specified by the user into global props */
+    cc = CPU_CLASS(oc);
+    cc->parse_features(typename, cpustr[1], &err);
+    g_strfreev(cpustr);
+    if (err) {
+        error_report_err(err);
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
     for (n = 0; n < smp_cpus; n++) {
-        ObjectClass *oc = cpu_class_by_name(TYPE_ARM_CPU, cpustr[0]);
-        const char *typename = object_class_get_name(oc);
-        CPUClass *cc = CPU_CLASS(oc);
-        Object *cpuobj;
-        Error *err = NULL;
-        char *cpuopts = g_strdup(cpustr[1]);
-
-        if (!oc) {
-            error_report("Unable to find CPU definition");
-            exit(1);
-        }
-        /* convert -smp CPU options specified by the user into global props */
-        cc->parse_features(typename, cpuopts, &err);
-        cpuobj = object_new(typename);
-
-        g_free(cpuopts);
-        if (err) {
-            error_report_err(err);
-            exit(1);
-        }
+        Object *cpuobj = object_new(typename);
 
         if (!vms->secure) {
             object_property_set_bool(cpuobj, false, "has_el3", NULL);
@@ -1310,7 +1311,6 @@ static void machvirt_init(MachineState *machine)
 
         object_property_set_bool(cpuobj, true, "realized", NULL);
     }
-    g_strfreev(cpustr);
     fdt_add_timer_nodes(vbi, gic_version);
     fdt_add_cpu_nodes(vbi);
     fdt_add_psci_node(vbi);
diff --git a/qom/cpu.c b/qom/cpu.c
index 2a0d9fe10f..f884a666a1 100644
--- a/qom/cpu.c
+++ b/qom/cpu.c
@@ -296,7 +296,6 @@ static void cpu_common_parse_features(const char *typename, char *features,
      * call it only once, so we can remove this check (or change it
      * to assert(!cpu_globals_initialized).
      * Current callers of ->parse_features() are:
-     * - machvirt_init()
      * - cpu_generic_init()
      * - cpu_x86_create()
      */