diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/s390/cmma_test.c b/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/s390/cmma_test.c
index e39a724fe860..15d81b2ed7ad 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/s390/cmma_test.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/s390/cmma_test.c
@@ -34,16 +34,22 @@ static char cmma_value_buf[MAIN_PAGE_COUNT + TEST_DATA_PAGE_COUNT];
 /**
  * Dirty CMMA attributes of exactly one page in the TEST_DATA memslot,
  * so use_cmma goes on and the CMMA related ioctls do something.
+ * Touch the page at offset 1M inside TEST_DATA to make sure its page
+ * tables are allocated in the host.
  */
 static void guest_do_one_essa(void)
 {
 	asm volatile(
 		/* load TEST_DATA_START_GFN into r1 */
+		"	xgr 1,1\n"
 		"	llilf 1,%[start_gfn]\n"
 		/* calculate the address from the gfn */
 		"	sllg 1,1,12(0)\n"
 		/* set the first page in TEST_DATA memslot to STABLE */
 		"	.insn rrf,0xb9ab0000,2,1,1,0\n"
+		"	agfi 1,0x100000\n"
+		/* also touch the first page of the second MB of TEST_DATA */
+		"	.insn rrf,0xb9ab0000,2,1,1,0\n"
 		/* hypercall */
 		"	diag 0,0,0x501\n"
 		"0:	j 0b"