diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/arch_timer.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/arch_timer.c
index 4155fe89b58a..af7e2894cd69 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/arch_timer.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/arch_timer.c
@@ -1529,13 +1529,14 @@ static bool timer_irqs_are_valid(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
 
 		ctx = vcpu_get_timer(vcpu, i);
 		irq = timer_irq(ctx);
-		if (kvm_vgic_set_owner(vcpu, irq, ctx))
-			break;
 
 		/* With GICv5, the default PPI is what you get -- nothing else */
 		if (vgic_is_v5(vcpu->kvm) && irq != get_vgic_ppi(vcpu->kvm, default_ppi[i]))
 			break;
 
+		if (kvm_vgic_set_owner(vcpu, irq, ctx))
+			break;
+
 		/*
 		 * We know by construction that we only have PPIs, so all values
 		 * are less than 32 for non-GICv5 VGICs. On GICv5, they are