kvm_do_ioctl((vm)->fd, cmd, arg);                       \
 })
 
+/*
+ * Assert that a VM or vCPU ioctl() succeeded, with extra magic to detect if
+ * the ioctl() failed because KVM killed/bugged the VM.  To detect a dead VM,
+ * probe KVM_CAP_USER_MEMORY, which (a) has been supported by KVM since before
+ * selftests existed and (b) should never outright fail, i.e. is supposed to
+ * return 0 or 1.  If KVM kills a VM, KVM returns -EIO for all ioctl()s for the
+ * VM and its vCPUs, including KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION.
+ */
+#define __TEST_ASSERT_VM_VCPU_IOCTL(cond, name, ret, vm)                               \
+do {                                                                                   \
+       int __errno = errno;                                                            \
+                                                                                       \
+       static_assert_is_vm(vm);                                                        \
+                                                                                       \
+       if (cond)                                                                       \
+               break;                                                                  \
+                                                                                       \
+       if (errno == EIO &&                                                             \
+           __vm_ioctl(vm, KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, (void *)KVM_CAP_USER_MEMORY) < 0) {     \
+               TEST_ASSERT(errno == EIO, "KVM killed the VM, should return -EIO");     \
+               TEST_FAIL("KVM killed/bugged the VM, check the kernel log for clues");  \
+       }                                                                               \
+       errno = __errno;                                                                \
+       TEST_ASSERT(cond, __KVM_IOCTL_ERROR(name, ret));                                \
+} while (0)
+
+#define TEST_ASSERT_VM_VCPU_IOCTL(cond, cmd, ret, vm)          \
+       __TEST_ASSERT_VM_VCPU_IOCTL(cond, #cmd, ret, vm)
+
 #define vm_ioctl(vm, cmd, arg)                                 \
 ({                                                             \
        int ret = __vm_ioctl(vm, cmd, arg);                     \
                                                                \
-       TEST_ASSERT(!ret, __KVM_IOCTL_ERROR(#cmd, ret));        \
+       __TEST_ASSERT_VM_VCPU_IOCTL(!ret, #cmd, ret, vm);               \
 })
 
 static __always_inline void static_assert_is_vcpu(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) { }
 ({                                                             \
        int ret = __vcpu_ioctl(vcpu, cmd, arg);                 \
                                                                \
-       TEST_ASSERT(!ret, __KVM_IOCTL_ERROR(#cmd, ret));        \
+       __TEST_ASSERT_VM_VCPU_IOCTL(!ret, #cmd, ret, (vcpu)->vm);       \
 })
 
 /*
 {
        int ret =  __vm_ioctl(vm, KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, (void *)cap);
 
-       TEST_ASSERT(ret >= 0, KVM_IOCTL_ERROR(KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, ret));
+       TEST_ASSERT_VM_VCPU_IOCTL(ret >= 0, KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, ret, vm);
        return ret;
 }
 
 {
        int fd = __vm_ioctl(vm, KVM_GET_STATS_FD, NULL);
 
-       TEST_ASSERT(fd >= 0, KVM_IOCTL_ERROR(KVM_GET_STATS_FD, fd));
+       TEST_ASSERT_VM_VCPU_IOCTL(fd >= 0, KVM_GET_STATS_FD, fd, vm);
        return fd;
 }
 
 {
        int fd = __vcpu_ioctl(vcpu, KVM_GET_STATS_FD, NULL);
 
-       TEST_ASSERT(fd >= 0, KVM_IOCTL_ERROR(KVM_GET_STATS_FD, fd));
+       TEST_ASSERT_VM_VCPU_IOCTL(fd >= 0, KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, fd, vcpu->vm);
        return fd;
 }