diff --git a/cutils.c b/cutils.c
index c91f88732e..5d995bc4e5 100644
--- a/cutils.c
+++ b/cutils.c
@@ -415,3 +415,15 @@ int64_t strtosz(const char *nptr, char **end)
 {
     return strtosz_suffix(nptr, end, STRTOSZ_DEFSUFFIX_MB);
 }
+
+int qemu_parse_fd(const char *param)
+{
+    int fd;
+    char *endptr = NULL;
+
+    fd = strtol(param, &endptr, 10);
+    if (*endptr || (fd == 0 && param == endptr)) {
+        return -1;
+    }
+    return fd;
+}
diff --git a/net.c b/net.c
index d05930c91f..cb52050bfd 100644
--- a/net.c
+++ b/net.c
@@ -733,12 +733,7 @@ int net_handle_fd_param(Monitor *mon, const char *param)
             return -1;
         }
     } else {
-        char *endptr = NULL;
-
-        fd = strtol(param, &endptr, 10);
-        if (*endptr || (fd == 0 && param == endptr)) {
-            return -1;
-        }
+        fd = qemu_parse_fd(param);
     }
 
     return fd;
diff --git a/qemu-common.h b/qemu-common.h
index 1c15cb17a7..2ce47aa12d 100644
--- a/qemu-common.h
+++ b/qemu-common.h
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ time_t mktimegm(struct tm *tm);
 int qemu_fls(int i);
 int qemu_fdatasync(int fd);
 int fcntl_setfl(int fd, int flag);
+int qemu_parse_fd(const char *param);
 
 /*
  * strtosz() suffixes used to specify the default treatment of an