diff --git a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
index 285c45baf2..d8539fd602 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
@@ -146,11 +146,16 @@ extern int mem_prealloc;
  */
 #define MAX_CPUMASK_BITS 255
 
-extern int nb_numa_nodes;
+extern int nb_numa_nodes;   /* Number of NUMA nodes */
+extern int max_numa_nodeid; /* Highest specified NUMA node ID, plus one.
+                             * For all nodes, nodeid < max_numa_nodeid
+                             */
+
 typedef struct node_info {
     uint64_t node_mem;
     DECLARE_BITMAP(node_cpu, MAX_CPUMASK_BITS);
     struct HostMemoryBackend *node_memdev;
+    bool present;
 } NodeInfo;
 extern NodeInfo numa_info[MAX_NODES];
 void set_numa_nodes(void);
diff --git a/numa.c b/numa.c
index 6c2eae7ef3..db10f954dd 100644
--- a/numa.c
+++ b/numa.c
@@ -106,6 +106,8 @@ static void numa_node_parse(NumaNodeOptions *node, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
         numa_info[nodenr].node_mem = object_property_get_int(o, "size", NULL);
         numa_info[nodenr].node_memdev = MEMORY_BACKEND(o);
     }
+    numa_info[nodenr].present = true;
+    max_numa_nodeid = MAX(max_numa_nodeid, nodenr + 1);
 }
 
 int numa_init_func(QemuOpts *opts, void *opaque)
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index a1686ef6c4..41ddcd2678 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ static QTAILQ_HEAD(, FWBootEntry) fw_boot_order =
     QTAILQ_HEAD_INITIALIZER(fw_boot_order);
 
 int nb_numa_nodes;
+int max_numa_nodeid;
 NodeInfo numa_info[MAX_NODES];
 
 uint8_t qemu_uuid[16];
@@ -2984,10 +2985,12 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
 
     for (i = 0; i < MAX_NODES; i++) {
         numa_info[i].node_mem = 0;
+        numa_info[i].present = false;
         bitmap_zero(numa_info[i].node_cpu, MAX_CPUMASK_BITS);
     }
 
     nb_numa_nodes = 0;
+    max_numa_nodeid = 0;
     nb_nics = 0;
 
     bdrv_init_with_whitelist();