diff --git a/Documentation/arch/arm64/cpu-hotplug.rst b/Documentation/arch/arm64/cpu-hotplug.rst
index 8fb438bf7781..7c3379b704aa 100644
--- a/Documentation/arch/arm64/cpu-hotplug.rst
+++ b/Documentation/arch/arm64/cpu-hotplug.rst
@@ -47,11 +47,12 @@ ever have can be described at boot. There are no power-domain considerations
 as such devices are emulated.
 
 CPU Hotplug on virtual systems is supported. It is distinct from physical
-CPU Hotplug as all resources are described as ``present``, but CPUs may be
-marked as disabled by firmware. Only the CPU's online/offline behaviour is
-influenced by firmware. An example is where a virtual machine boots with a
-single CPU, and additional CPUs are added once a cloud orchestrator deploys
-the workload.
+CPU Hotplug as all vCPU resources are statically described in the firmware
+configuration tables (e.g. MADT), meaning their maximum possible count is
+known at boot. However, vCPUs that are not enabled at boot are not marked
+as ``present`` by the kernel until they are hotplugged. An example is where
+a virtual machine boots with a single CPU, and additional CPUs are added
+once a cloud orchestrator deploys the workload.
 
 For a virtual machine, the VMM (e.g. Qemu) plays the part of firmware.
 
@@ -60,16 +61,19 @@ brought online. Firmware can enforce its policy via PSCI's return codes. e.g.
 ``DENIED``.
 
 The ACPI tables must describe all the resources of the virtual machine. CPUs
-that firmware wishes to disable either from boot (or later) should not be
-``enabled`` in the MADT GICC structures, but should have the ``online capable``
-bit set, to indicate they can be enabled later. The boot CPU must be marked as
-``enabled``.  The 'always on' GICR structure must be used to describe the
-redistributors.
+that are hot-pluggable must have the ``online capable`` bit set and the
+``enabled`` bit cleared in the MADT GICC structures to indicate they can be
+enabled later. The boot CPU must be marked as ``enabled`` with its
+``online capable`` bit cleared. The 'always on' GICR structure must be used
+to describe the redistributors.
 
 CPUs described as ``online capable`` but not ``enabled`` can be set to enabled
 by the DSDT's Processor object's _STA method. On virtual systems the _STA method
-must always report the CPU as ``present``. Changes to the firmware policy can
-be notified to the OS via device-check or eject-request.
+must always set the ``ACPI_STA_DEVICE_PRESENT`` bit, while toggling the
+``ACPI_STA_DEVICE_ENABLED`` bit to reflect its plug status. The kernel will
+then dynamically mark the vCPU as ``present`` within the OS when the
+``ACPI_STA_DEVICE_ENABLED`` bit becomes set during hot-add. Changes to the
+firmware policy can be notified to the OS via device-check or eject-request.
 
 CPUs described as ``enabled`` in the static table, should not have their _STA
 modified dynamically by firmware. Soft-restart features such as kexec will
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/acpi.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/acpi.c
index 5891f92c2035..681aa2bbc399 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/acpi.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/acpi.c
@@ -448,12 +448,14 @@ int acpi_map_cpu(acpi_handle handle, phys_cpuid_t physid, u32 apci_id,
 		return *pcpu;
 	}
 
+	set_cpu_present(*pcpu, true);
 	return 0;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(acpi_map_cpu);
 
 int acpi_unmap_cpu(int cpu)
 {
+	set_cpu_present(cpu, false);
 	return 0;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(acpi_unmap_cpu);
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c
index 0584d17f33ba..cdcdd160e5b6 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c
@@ -556,6 +556,11 @@ struct acpi_madt_generic_interrupt *acpi_cpu_get_madt_gicc(int cpu)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(acpi_cpu_get_madt_gicc);
 
+static bool acpi_cpu_is_present(int cpu)
+{
+	return acpi_cpu_get_madt_gicc(cpu)->flags & ACPI_MADT_ENABLED;
+}
+
 /*
  * acpi_map_gic_cpu_interface - parse processor MADT entry
  *
@@ -660,6 +665,10 @@ static void __init acpi_parse_and_init_cpus(void)
 		early_map_cpu_to_node(i, acpi_numa_get_nid(i));
 }
 #else
+static bool acpi_cpu_is_present(int cpu)
+{
+	return false;
+}
 #define acpi_parse_and_init_cpus(...)	do { } while (0)
 #endif
 
@@ -804,7 +813,8 @@ void __init smp_prepare_cpus(unsigned int max_cpus)
 		if (err)
 			continue;
 
-		set_cpu_present(cpu, true);
+		if (acpi_disabled || acpi_cpu_is_present(cpu))
+			set_cpu_present(cpu, true);
 		numa_store_cpu_info(cpu);
 	}
 }