diff --git a/Documentation/virtual/kvm/api.txt b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/api.txt
index 884f819..8898caf 100644
--- a/Documentation/virtual/kvm/api.txt
+++ b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/api.txt
@@ -148,9 +148,9 @@
 
 4.4 KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION
 
-Capability: basic
+Capability: basic, KVM_CAP_CHECK_EXTENSION_VM for vm ioctl
 Architectures: all
-Type: system ioctl
+Type: system ioctl, vm ioctl
 Parameters: extension identifier (KVM_CAP_*)
 Returns: 0 if unsupported; 1 (or some other positive integer) if supported
 
@@ -160,6 +160,9 @@
 Generally 0 means no and 1 means yes, but some extensions may report
 additional information in the integer return value.
 
+Based on their initialization different VMs may have different capabilities.
+It is thus encouraged to use the vm ioctl to query for capabilities (available
+with KVM_CAP_CHECK_EXTENSION_VM on the vm fd)
 
 4.5 KVM_GET_VCPU_MMAP_SIZE
 
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/kvm.h b/include/uapi/linux/kvm.h
index 0418b74..51776ca 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/kvm.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/kvm.h
@@ -759,6 +759,7 @@
 #define KVM_CAP_ARM_PSCI_0_2 102
 #define KVM_CAP_PPC_FIXUP_HCALL 103
 #define KVM_CAP_PPC_ENABLE_HCALL 104
+#define KVM_CAP_CHECK_EXTENSION_VM 105
 
 #ifdef KVM_CAP_IRQ_ROUTING
 
diff --git a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
index e28f3ca..1b95cc9 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
@@ -2324,6 +2324,34 @@
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static long kvm_vm_ioctl_check_extension_generic(struct kvm *kvm, long arg)
+{
+	switch (arg) {
+	case KVM_CAP_USER_MEMORY:
+	case KVM_CAP_DESTROY_MEMORY_REGION_WORKS:
+	case KVM_CAP_JOIN_MEMORY_REGIONS_WORKS:
+#ifdef CONFIG_KVM_APIC_ARCHITECTURE
+	case KVM_CAP_SET_BOOT_CPU_ID:
+#endif
+	case KVM_CAP_INTERNAL_ERROR_DATA:
+#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_KVM_MSI
+	case KVM_CAP_SIGNAL_MSI:
+#endif
+#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_KVM_IRQ_ROUTING
+	case KVM_CAP_IRQFD_RESAMPLE:
+#endif
+	case KVM_CAP_CHECK_EXTENSION_VM:
+		return 1;
+#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_KVM_IRQ_ROUTING
+	case KVM_CAP_IRQ_ROUTING:
+		return KVM_MAX_IRQ_ROUTES;
+#endif
+	default:
+		break;
+	}
+	return kvm_vm_ioctl_check_extension(kvm, arg);
+}
+
 static long kvm_vm_ioctl(struct file *filp,
 			   unsigned int ioctl, unsigned long arg)
 {
@@ -2487,6 +2515,9 @@
 		r = 0;
 		break;
 	}
+	case KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION:
+		r = kvm_vm_ioctl_check_extension_generic(kvm, arg);
+		break;
 	default:
 		r = kvm_arch_vm_ioctl(filp, ioctl, arg);
 		if (r == -ENOTTY)
@@ -2571,33 +2602,6 @@
 	return r;
 }
 
-static long kvm_vm_ioctl_check_extension_generic(struct kvm *kvm, long arg)
-{
-	switch (arg) {
-	case KVM_CAP_USER_MEMORY:
-	case KVM_CAP_DESTROY_MEMORY_REGION_WORKS:
-	case KVM_CAP_JOIN_MEMORY_REGIONS_WORKS:
-#ifdef CONFIG_KVM_APIC_ARCHITECTURE
-	case KVM_CAP_SET_BOOT_CPU_ID:
-#endif
-	case KVM_CAP_INTERNAL_ERROR_DATA:
-#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_KVM_MSI
-	case KVM_CAP_SIGNAL_MSI:
-#endif
-#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_KVM_IRQ_ROUTING
-	case KVM_CAP_IRQFD_RESAMPLE:
-#endif
-		return 1;
-#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_KVM_IRQ_ROUTING
-	case KVM_CAP_IRQ_ROUTING:
-		return KVM_MAX_IRQ_ROUTES;
-#endif
-	default:
-		break;
-	}
-	return kvm_vm_ioctl_check_extension(kvm, arg);
-}
-
 static long kvm_dev_ioctl(struct file *filp,
 			  unsigned int ioctl, unsigned long arg)
 {