diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 0f5acb76a9..29ca3d4f90 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -3105,6 +3105,9 @@ virQEMUCapsInitCPUModel(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
     if (ARCH_IS_S390(qemuCaps->arch))
         ret = virQEMUCapsInitCPUModelS390(qemuCaps, cpu);
 
+    if (ret == 0)
+        cpu->fallback = VIR_CPU_FALLBACK_FORBID;
+
     return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/domaincapsschemadata/qemu_2.8.0.s390x.xml b/tests/domaincapsschemadata/qemu_2.8.0.s390x.xml
index efe345962a..0b8135bc5c 100644
--- a/tests/domaincapsschemadata/qemu_2.8.0.s390x.xml
+++ b/tests/domaincapsschemadata/qemu_2.8.0.s390x.xml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
   <cpu>
     <mode name='host-passthrough' supported='yes'/>
     <mode name='host-model' supported='yes'>
-      <model fallback='allow'>zEC12.2-base</model>
+      <model fallback='forbid'>zEC12.2-base</model>
       <feature policy='require' name='aefsi'/>
       <feature policy='require' name='msa5'/>
       <feature policy='require' name='msa4'/>