diff --git a/migration/savevm.c b/migration/savevm.c
index c7596c3e9b..2095ddd6f8 100644
--- a/migration/savevm.c
+++ b/migration/savevm.c
@@ -237,6 +237,8 @@ static SaveState savevm_state = {
     .global_section_id = 0,
 };
 
+static SaveStateEntry *find_se(const char *idstr, uint32_t instance_id);
+
 static bool should_validate_capability(int capability)
 {
     assert(capability >= 0 && capability < MIGRATION_CAPABILITY__MAX);
@@ -716,6 +718,18 @@ static void savevm_state_handler_insert(SaveStateEntry *nse)
 
     assert(priority <= MIG_PRI_MAX);
 
+    /*
+     * This should never happen otherwise migration will probably fail
+     * silently somewhere because we can be wrongly applying one
+     * object properties upon another one.  Bail out ASAP.
+     */
+    if (find_se(nse->idstr, nse->instance_id)) {
+        error_report("%s: Detected duplicate SaveStateEntry: "
+                     "id=%s, instance_id=0x%"PRIx32, __func__,
+                     nse->idstr, nse->instance_id);
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+
     for (i = priority - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
         se = savevm_state.handler_pri_head[i];
         if (se != NULL) {