diff --git a/manifests/compute/libvirt.pp b/manifests/compute/libvirt.pp
index 365c8597c..dd5675114 100644
--- a/manifests/compute/libvirt.pp
+++ b/manifests/compute/libvirt.pp
@@ -298,6 +298,9 @@ class nova::compute::libvirt (
       }
     }
   } else {
+    if $cpu_mode != 'none' and !($virt_type in ['qemu', 'kvm']) {
+      fail("\$virt_type = \"${virt_type}\" supports only \$cpu_mode = \"none\"")
+    }
     $cpu_mode_real = $cpu_mode
   }
 
diff --git a/spec/classes/nova_compute_libvirt_spec.rb b/spec/classes/nova_compute_libvirt_spec.rb
index a2d3e2acf..7f41bb372 100644
--- a/spec/classes/nova_compute_libvirt_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/nova_compute_libvirt_spec.rb
@@ -164,6 +164,17 @@ describe 'nova::compute::libvirt' do
       it { is_expected.to contain_nova_config('libvirt/cpu_model_extra_flags').with_value('pcid')}
     end
 
+    context 'with cpu_mode and non qemu/kvm virt_type' do
+      let :params do
+        {
+          :cpu_mode  => 'host-passthrough',
+          :virt_type => 'lxc',
+        }
+      end
+
+      it { should raise_error(Puppet::Error, /\$virt_type = "lxc" supports only \$cpu_mode = "none"/) }
+    end
+
     context 'with non-custom cpu_node and cpu_models' do
       let :params do
         { :cpu_models => ['kvm64', 'qemu64'] }