diff --git a/contrib/plugins/cache.c b/contrib/plugins/cache.c
index e9955cdc3a..b550ef31b0 100644
--- a/contrib/plugins/cache.c
+++ b/contrib/plugins/cache.c
@@ -99,8 +99,28 @@ static inline uint64_t extract_set(Cache *cache, uint64_t addr)
     return (addr & cache->set_mask) >> cache->blksize_shift;
 }
 
+static const char *cache_config_error(int blksize, int assoc, int cachesize)
+{
+    if (cachesize % blksize != 0) {
+        return "cache size must be divisible by block size";
+    } else if (cachesize % (blksize * assoc) != 0) {
+        return "cache size must be divisible by set size (assoc * block size)";
+    } else {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+}
+
+static bool bad_cache_params(int blksize, int assoc, int cachesize)
+{
+    return (cachesize % blksize) != 0 || (cachesize % (blksize * assoc) != 0);
+}
+
 static Cache *cache_init(int blksize, int assoc, int cachesize)
 {
+    if (bad_cache_params(blksize, assoc, cachesize)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
     Cache *cache;
     int i;
     uint64_t blk_mask;
@@ -397,7 +417,19 @@ int qemu_plugin_install(qemu_plugin_id_t id, const qemu_info_t *info,
 
     for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
         char *opt = argv[i];
-        if (g_str_has_prefix(opt, "limit=")) {
+        if (g_str_has_prefix(opt, "iblksize=")) {
+            iblksize = g_ascii_strtoll(opt + 9, NULL, 10);
+        } else if (g_str_has_prefix(opt, "iassoc=")) {
+            iassoc = g_ascii_strtoll(opt + 7, NULL, 10);
+        } else if (g_str_has_prefix(opt, "icachesize=")) {
+            icachesize = g_ascii_strtoll(opt + 11, NULL, 10);
+        } else if (g_str_has_prefix(opt, "dblksize=")) {
+            dblksize = g_ascii_strtoll(opt + 9, NULL, 10);
+        } else if (g_str_has_prefix(opt, "dassoc=")) {
+            dassoc = g_ascii_strtoll(opt + 7, NULL, 10);
+        } else if (g_str_has_prefix(opt, "dcachesize=")) {
+            dcachesize = g_ascii_strtoll(opt + 11, NULL, 10);
+        } else if (g_str_has_prefix(opt, "limit=")) {
             limit = g_ascii_strtoll(opt + 6, NULL, 10);
         } else {
             fprintf(stderr, "option parsing failed: %s\n", opt);
@@ -406,7 +438,20 @@ int qemu_plugin_install(qemu_plugin_id_t id, const qemu_info_t *info,
     }
 
     dcache = cache_init(dblksize, dassoc, dcachesize);
+    if (!dcache) {
+        const char *err = cache_config_error(dblksize, dassoc, dcachesize);
+        fprintf(stderr, "dcache cannot be constructed from given parameters\n");
+        fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", err);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
     icache = cache_init(iblksize, iassoc, icachesize);
+    if (!icache) {
+        const char *err = cache_config_error(iblksize, iassoc, icachesize);
+        fprintf(stderr, "icache cannot be constructed from given parameters\n");
+        fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", err);
+        return -1;
+    }
 
     rng = g_rand_new();