diff --git a/hw/vfio/pci.c b/hw/vfio/pci.c
index c0cb1ec289..dd12f36391 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/pci.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/pci.c
@@ -2581,7 +2581,7 @@ static void vfio_populate_device(VFIOPCIDevice *vdev, Error **errp)
     ret = ioctl(vdev->vbasedev.fd, VFIO_DEVICE_GET_IRQ_INFO, &irq_info);
     if (ret) {
         /* This can fail for an old kernel or legacy PCI dev */
-        trace_vfio_populate_device_get_irq_info_failure();
+        trace_vfio_populate_device_get_irq_info_failure(strerror(errno));
     } else if (irq_info.count == 1) {
         vdev->pci_aer = true;
     } else {
diff --git a/hw/vfio/trace-events b/hw/vfio/trace-events
index a85e8662ea..f41ca96160 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/trace-events
+++ b/hw/vfio/trace-events
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ vfio_pci_hot_reset_has_dep_devices(const char *name) "%s: hot reset dependent de
 vfio_pci_hot_reset_dep_devices(int domain, int bus, int slot, int function, int group_id) "\t%04x:%02x:%02x.%x group %d"
 vfio_pci_hot_reset_result(const char *name, const char *result) "%s hot reset: %s"
 vfio_populate_device_config(const char *name, unsigned long size, unsigned long offset, unsigned long flags) "Device %s config:\n  size: 0x%lx, offset: 0x%lx, flags: 0x%lx"
-vfio_populate_device_get_irq_info_failure(void) "VFIO_DEVICE_GET_IRQ_INFO failure: %m"
+vfio_populate_device_get_irq_info_failure(const char *errstr) "VFIO_DEVICE_GET_IRQ_INFO failure: %s"
 vfio_realize(const char *name, int group_id) " (%s) group %d"
 vfio_mdev(const char *name, bool is_mdev) " (%s) is_mdev %d"
 vfio_add_ext_cap_dropped(const char *name, uint16_t cap, uint16_t offset) "%s 0x%x@0x%x"
diff --git a/scripts/tracetool/__init__.py b/scripts/tracetool/__init__.py
index 3478ac93ab..6fca674936 100644
--- a/scripts/tracetool/__init__.py
+++ b/scripts/tracetool/__init__.py
@@ -274,6 +274,10 @@ class Event(object):
         props = groups["props"].split()
         fmt = groups["fmt"]
         fmt_trans = groups["fmt_trans"]
+        if fmt.find("%m") != -1 or fmt_trans.find("%m") != -1:
+            raise ValueError("Event format '%m' is forbidden, pass the error "
+                             "as an explicit trace argument")
+
         if len(fmt_trans) > 0:
             fmt = [fmt_trans, fmt]
         args = Arguments.build(groups["args"])