diff --git a/pkg/ring0/kernel_amd64.go b/pkg/ring0/kernel_amd64.go
index 4b8e5aa43..ab20712b5 100644
--- a/pkg/ring0/kernel_amd64.go
+++ b/pkg/ring0/kernel_amd64.go
@@ -315,27 +315,6 @@ func startGo(c *CPU) {
 	wrmsr(_MSR_CSTAR, kernelFunc(addrOfSysenter()))
 }
 
-// SetCPUIDFaulting sets CPUID faulting per the boolean value.
-//
-// True is returned if faulting could be set.
-//
-//go:nosplit
-func SetCPUIDFaulting(on bool) bool {
-	// Per the SDM (Vol 3, Table 2-43), PLATFORM_INFO bit 31 denotes support
-	// for CPUID faulting, and we enable and disable via the MISC_FEATURES MSR.
-	if rdmsr(_MSR_PLATFORM_INFO)&_PLATFORM_INFO_CPUID_FAULT != 0 {
-		features := rdmsr(_MSR_MISC_FEATURES)
-		if on {
-			features |= _MISC_FEATURE_CPUID_TRAP
-		} else {
-			features &^= _MISC_FEATURE_CPUID_TRAP
-		}
-		wrmsr(_MSR_MISC_FEATURES, features)
-		return true // Setting successful.
-	}
-	return false
-}
-
 // ReadCR2 reads the current CR2 value.
 //
 //go:nosplit
diff --git a/pkg/ring0/x86.go b/pkg/ring0/x86.go
index 469c67401..2668ce9ca 100644
--- a/pkg/ring0/x86.go
+++ b/pkg/ring0/x86.go
@@ -52,16 +52,10 @@ const (
 	_EFER_LMA = 0x400
 	_EFER_NX  = 0x800
 
-	_MSR_STAR          = 0xc0000081
-	_MSR_LSTAR         = 0xc0000082
-	_MSR_CSTAR         = 0xc0000083
-	_MSR_SYSCALL_MASK  = 0xc0000084
-	_MSR_PLATFORM_INFO = 0xce
-	_MSR_MISC_FEATURES = 0x140
-
-	_PLATFORM_INFO_CPUID_FAULT = 1 << 31
-
-	_MISC_FEATURE_CPUID_TRAP = 0x1
+	_MSR_STAR         = 0xc0000081
+	_MSR_LSTAR        = 0xc0000082
+	_MSR_CSTAR        = 0xc0000083
+	_MSR_SYSCALL_MASK = 0xc0000084
 )
 
 const (
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/platform/kvm/machine_amd64.go b/pkg/sentry/platform/kvm/machine_amd64.go
index cb75ddf3c..5aecfc670 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/platform/kvm/machine_amd64.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/platform/kvm/machine_amd64.go
@@ -22,17 +22,18 @@ import (
 	"math/big"
 	"reflect"
 	"runtime"
-	"runtime/debug"
 
 	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
 	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/cpuid"
 	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/hostarch"
 	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/hostsyscall"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/log"
 	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/ring0"
 	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/ring0/pagetables"
 	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/platform"
 	ktime "gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/time"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sync"
 )
 
 // initArchState initializes architecture-specific state.
@@ -54,22 +55,6 @@ func (m *machine) initArchState() error {
 	}
 	m.mu.Unlock()
 
-	c := m.Get()
-	defer m.Put(c)
-	// Enable CPUID faulting, if possible. Note that this also serves as a
-	// basic platform sanity tests, since we will enter guest mode for the
-	// first time here. The recovery is necessary, since if we fail to read
-	// the platform info register, we will retry to host mode and
-	// ultimately need to handle a segmentation fault.
-	old := debug.SetPanicOnFault(true)
-	defer func() {
-		recover()
-		debug.SetPanicOnFault(old)
-	}()
-
-	bluepill(c)
-	ring0.SetCPUIDFaulting(true)
-
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -97,6 +82,8 @@ const (
 	poolPCIDs = 8
 )
 
+var cpuidFaultingWarnOnce sync.Once
+
 // initArchState initializes architecture-specific state.
 func (c *vCPU) initArchState() error {
 	var (
@@ -158,7 +145,22 @@ func (c *vCPU) initArchState() error {
 	}
 
 	// Set the time offset to the host native time.
-	return c.setSystemTime()
+	if err := c.setSystemTime(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Try to enable CPUID faulting. This is required to handle app CPUID
+	// correctly, since we always pass the CPUID returned by
+	// KVM_GET_SUPPORTED_CPUID to KVM_SET_CPUID2. Note that while hardware
+	// support for CPUID faulting is inconsistent, KVM always supports it after
+	// db2336a80489e ("KVM: x86: virtualize cpuid faulting"), Linux 4.12+.
+	if err := c.enableCPUIDFaulting(); err != nil {
+		cpuidFaultingWarnOnce.Do(func() {
+			log.Warningf("Application CPUID will be incorrect: %v", err)
+		})
+	}
+
+	return nil
 }
 
 // bitsForScaling returns the bits available for storing the fraction component
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/platform/kvm/machine_amd64_unsafe.go b/pkg/sentry/platform/kvm/machine_amd64_unsafe.go
index 0d2878002..e37bd6d3f 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/platform/kvm/machine_amd64_unsafe.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/platform/kvm/machine_amd64_unsafe.go
@@ -140,6 +140,26 @@ func (c *vCPU) setTSC(value uint64) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (c *vCPU) enableCPUIDFaulting() error {
+	const (
+		_MSR_MISC_FEATURES_ENABLE              = 0x140
+		_MSR_MISC_FEATURES_ENABLES_CPUID_FAULT = 1 << 0
+	)
+	registers := modelControlRegisters{
+		nmsrs: 1,
+	}
+	registers.entries[0].index = _MSR_MISC_FEATURES_ENABLE
+	registers.entries[0].data = _MSR_MISC_FEATURES_ENABLES_CPUID_FAULT
+	if errno := hostsyscall.RawSyscallErrno(
+		unix.SYS_IOCTL,
+		uintptr(c.fd),
+		KVM_SET_MSRS,
+		uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&registers))); errno != 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("error enabling CPUID faulting: %v", errno)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // setUserRegisters sets user registers in the vCPU.
 //
 //go:nosplit