diff --git a/hw/core/qdev-properties-system.c b/hw/core/qdev-properties-system.c
index 49bdd12581..b81a4e8d14 100644
--- a/hw/core/qdev-properties-system.c
+++ b/hw/core/qdev-properties-system.c
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include "sysemu/blockdev.h"
 #include "net/net.h"
 #include "hw/pci/pci.h"
+#include "util/block-helpers.h"
 
 static bool check_prop_still_unset(DeviceState *dev, const char *name,
                                    const void *old_val, const char *new_val,
@@ -576,16 +577,6 @@ const PropertyInfo qdev_prop_losttickpolicy = {
 
 /* --- blocksize --- */
 
-/* lower limit is sector size */
-#define MIN_BLOCK_SIZE          512
-#define MIN_BLOCK_SIZE_STR      "512 B"
-/*
- * upper limit is arbitrary, 2 MiB looks sufficient for all sensible uses, and
- * matches qcow2 cluster size limit
- */
-#define MAX_BLOCK_SIZE          (2 * MiB)
-#define MAX_BLOCK_SIZE_STR      "2 MiB"
-
 static void set_blocksize(Object *obj, Visitor *v, const char *name,
                           void *opaque, Error **errp)
 {
@@ -593,6 +584,7 @@ static void set_blocksize(Object *obj, Visitor *v, const char *name,
     Property *prop = opaque;
     uint32_t *ptr = qdev_get_prop_ptr(dev, prop);
     uint64_t value;
+    Error *local_err = NULL;
 
     if (dev->realized) {
         qdev_prop_set_after_realize(dev, name, errp);
@@ -602,24 +594,11 @@ static void set_blocksize(Object *obj, Visitor *v, const char *name,
     if (!visit_type_size(v, name, &value, errp)) {
         return;
     }
-    /* value of 0 means "unset" */
-    if (value && (value < MIN_BLOCK_SIZE || value > MAX_BLOCK_SIZE)) {
-        error_setg(errp,
-                   "Property %s.%s doesn't take value %" PRIu64
-                   " (minimum: " MIN_BLOCK_SIZE_STR
-                   ", maximum: " MAX_BLOCK_SIZE_STR ")",
-                   dev->id ? : "", name, value);
+    check_block_size(dev->id ? : "", name, value, &local_err);
+    if (local_err) {
+        error_propagate(errp, local_err);
         return;
     }
-
-    /* We rely on power-of-2 blocksizes for bitmasks */
-    if ((value & (value - 1)) != 0) {
-        error_setg(errp,
-                  "Property %s.%s doesn't take value '%" PRId64 "', "
-                  "it's not a power of 2", dev->id ?: "", name, (int64_t)value);
-        return;
-    }
-
     *ptr = value;
 }
 
diff --git a/util/block-helpers.c b/util/block-helpers.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c4851432f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/block-helpers.c
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/*
+ * Block utility functions
+ *
+ * Copyright IBM, Corp. 2011
+ * Copyright (c) 2020 Coiby Xu <coiby.xu@gmail.com>
+ *
+ * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2 or later.
+ * See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+ */
+
+#include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "qapi/error.h"
+#include "qapi/qmp/qerror.h"
+#include "block-helpers.h"
+
+/**
+ * check_block_size:
+ * @id: The unique ID of the object
+ * @name: The name of the property being validated
+ * @value: The block size in bytes
+ * @errp: A pointer to an area to store an error
+ *
+ * This function checks that the block size meets the following conditions:
+ * 1. At least MIN_BLOCK_SIZE
+ * 2. No larger than MAX_BLOCK_SIZE
+ * 3. A power of 2
+ */
+void check_block_size(const char *id, const char *name, int64_t value,
+                      Error **errp)
+{
+    /* value of 0 means "unset" */
+    if (value && (value < MIN_BLOCK_SIZE || value > MAX_BLOCK_SIZE)) {
+        error_setg(errp, QERR_PROPERTY_VALUE_OUT_OF_RANGE,
+                   id, name, value, MIN_BLOCK_SIZE, MAX_BLOCK_SIZE);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    /* We rely on power-of-2 blocksizes for bitmasks */
+    if ((value & (value - 1)) != 0) {
+        error_setg(errp,
+                   "Property %s.%s doesn't take value '%" PRId64
+                   "', it's not a power of 2",
+                   id, name, value);
+        return;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/util/block-helpers.h b/util/block-helpers.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b53295a529
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/block-helpers.h
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#ifndef BLOCK_HELPERS_H
+#define BLOCK_HELPERS_H
+
+#include "qemu/units.h"
+
+/* lower limit is sector size */
+#define MIN_BLOCK_SIZE          INT64_C(512)
+#define MIN_BLOCK_SIZE_STR      "512 B"
+/*
+ * upper limit is arbitrary, 2 MiB looks sufficient for all sensible uses, and
+ * matches qcow2 cluster size limit
+ */
+#define MAX_BLOCK_SIZE          (2 * MiB)
+#define MAX_BLOCK_SIZE_STR      "2 MiB"
+
+void check_block_size(const char *id, const char *name, int64_t value,
+                      Error **errp);
+
+#endif /* BLOCK_HELPERS_H */
diff --git a/util/meson.build b/util/meson.build
index 3921981ccf..2296e81b34 100644
--- a/util/meson.build
+++ b/util/meson.build
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ if have_block
   util_ss.add(files('nvdimm-utils.c'))
   util_ss.add(files('qemu-coroutine.c', 'qemu-coroutine-lock.c', 'qemu-coroutine-io.c'))
   util_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_LINUX', if_true: files('vhost-user-server.c'))
+  util_ss.add(files('block-helpers.c'))
   util_ss.add(files('qemu-coroutine-sleep.c'))
   util_ss.add(files('qemu-co-shared-resource.c'))
   util_ss.add(files('thread-pool.c', 'qemu-timer.c'))