diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index e2e76e4dd8..b8764eacd8 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -1516,12 +1516,19 @@ virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataCopy(virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataPtr dst,
 
 
 static void
-virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataClear(virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataPtr cpuData)
+virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataClearModels(virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataPtr cpuData)
 {
-    qemuMonitorCPUModelInfoFree(cpuData->info);
     virCPUDefFree(cpuData->reported);
     virCPUDefFree(cpuData->migratable);
     virCPUDefFree(cpuData->full);
+}
+
+
+static void
+virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataClear(virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataPtr cpuData)
+{
+    qemuMonitorCPUModelInfoFree(cpuData->info);
+    virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataClearModels(cpuData);
 
     memset(cpuData, 0, sizeof(*cpuData));
 }
@@ -2834,6 +2841,16 @@ virQEMUCapsNewHostCPUModel(void)
 }
 
 
+void
+virQEMUCapsFreeHostCPUModel(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                            virDomainVirtType type)
+{
+    virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataPtr cpuData = virQEMUCapsGetHostCPUData(qemuCaps, type);
+
+    virQEMUCapsHostCPUDataClearModels(cpuData);
+}
+
+
 void
 virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                             virArch hostArch,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h
index 0199501c93..fea039ef3a 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h
@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ void
 virQEMUCapsSetArch(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                    virArch arch);
 
+void
+virQEMUCapsFreeHostCPUModel(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                            virDomainVirtType type);
+
 void
 virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                             virArch hostArch,
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index a6a40e273e..61c7ae59aa 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -388,6 +388,9 @@ testUpdateQEMUCaps(const struct testInfo *info,
     if (testAddCPUModels(info->qemuCaps, info->skipLegacyCPUs) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
+    virQEMUCapsFreeHostCPUModel(info->qemuCaps, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
+    virQEMUCapsFreeHostCPUModel(info->qemuCaps, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_QEMU);
+
     virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(info->qemuCaps, caps->host.arch,
                                 VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
     virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(info->qemuCaps, caps->host.arch,