diff --git a/hypervisor/src/kvm/x86_64.rs b/hypervisor/src/kvm/x86_64.rs
index 6bdb323c38..4e6b08b494 100644
--- a/hypervisor/src/kvm/x86_64.rs
+++ b/hypervisor/src/kvm/x86_64.rs
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ use data_model::vec_with_array_field;
 use data_model::FlexibleArrayWrapper;
 use kvm_sys::*;
 use libc::E2BIG;
+use libc::EAGAIN;
 use libc::EIO;
 use libc::ENXIO;
 use serde::Deserialize;
@@ -565,6 +566,10 @@ impl VcpuX86_64 for KvmVcpu {
     /// While this ioctl exists on PPC and MIPS as well as x86, the semantics are different and
     /// ChromeOS doesn't support PPC or MIPS.
     fn interrupt(&self, irq: u8) -> Result<()> {
+        if !self.ready_for_interrupt() {
+            return Err(Error::new(EAGAIN));
+        }
+
         let interrupt = kvm_interrupt { irq: irq.into() };
         // SAFETY:
         // safe becuase we allocated the struct and we know the kernel will read