diff --git a/include/sysemu/kvm.h b/include/sysemu/kvm.h
index 9cf14ca3d5b..613d3f7581f 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/kvm.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/kvm.h
@@ -235,11 +235,11 @@ static inline int kvm_update_guest_debug(CPUState *cpu, unsigned long reinject_t
 
 /* internal API */
 
-int kvm_ioctl(KVMState *s, int type, ...);
+int kvm_ioctl(KVMState *s, unsigned long type, ...);
 
-int kvm_vm_ioctl(KVMState *s, int type, ...);
+int kvm_vm_ioctl(KVMState *s, unsigned long type, ...);
 
-int kvm_vcpu_ioctl(CPUState *cpu, int type, ...);
+int kvm_vcpu_ioctl(CPUState *cpu, unsigned long type, ...);
 
 /**
  * kvm_device_ioctl - call an ioctl on a kvm device
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ int kvm_vcpu_ioctl(CPUState *cpu, int type, ...);
  *
  * Returns: -errno on error, nonnegative on success
  */
-int kvm_device_ioctl(int fd, int type, ...);
+int kvm_device_ioctl(int fd, unsigned long type, ...);
 
 /**
  * kvm_vm_check_attr - check for existence of a specific vm attribute
diff --git a/include/sysemu/kvm_int.h b/include/sysemu/kvm_int.h
index 1d8fb1473bd..17483ff53bd 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/kvm_int.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/kvm_int.h
@@ -122,10 +122,19 @@ struct KVMState
     bool sync_mmu;
     bool guest_state_protected;
     uint64_t manual_dirty_log_protect;
-    /* The man page (and posix) say ioctl numbers are signed int, but
-     * they're not.  Linux, glibc and *BSD all treat ioctl numbers as
-     * unsigned, and treating them as signed here can break things */
-    unsigned irq_set_ioctl;
+    /*
+     * Older POSIX says that ioctl numbers are signed int, but in
+     * practice they are not. (Newer POSIX doesn't specify ioctl
+     * at all.) Linux, glibc and *BSD all treat ioctl numbers as
+     * unsigned, and real-world ioctl values like KVM_GET_XSAVE have
+     * bit 31 set, which means that passing them via an 'int' will
+     * result in sign-extension when they get converted back to the
+     * 'unsigned long' which the ioctl() prototype uses. Luckily Linux
+     * always treats the argument as an unsigned 32-bit int, so any
+     * possible sign-extension is deliberately ignored, but for
+     * consistency we keep to the same type that glibc is using.
+     */
+    unsigned long irq_set_ioctl;
     unsigned int sigmask_len;
     GHashTable *gsimap;
 #ifdef KVM_CAP_IRQ_ROUTING
diff --git a/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c b/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
index 75d11a07b2b..beb1988d12c 100644
--- a/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
+++ b/accel/kvm/kvm-all.c
@@ -3170,7 +3170,7 @@ int kvm_cpu_exec(CPUState *cpu)
     return ret;
 }
 
-int kvm_ioctl(KVMState *s, int type, ...)
+int kvm_ioctl(KVMState *s, unsigned long type, ...)
 {
     int ret;
     void *arg;
@@ -3188,7 +3188,7 @@ int kvm_ioctl(KVMState *s, int type, ...)
     return ret;
 }
 
-int kvm_vm_ioctl(KVMState *s, int type, ...)
+int kvm_vm_ioctl(KVMState *s, unsigned long type, ...)
 {
     int ret;
     void *arg;
@@ -3208,7 +3208,7 @@ int kvm_vm_ioctl(KVMState *s, int type, ...)
     return ret;
 }
 
-int kvm_vcpu_ioctl(CPUState *cpu, int type, ...)
+int kvm_vcpu_ioctl(CPUState *cpu, unsigned long type, ...)
 {
     int ret;
     void *arg;
@@ -3228,7 +3228,7 @@ int kvm_vcpu_ioctl(CPUState *cpu, int type, ...)
     return ret;
 }
 
-int kvm_device_ioctl(int fd, int type, ...)
+int kvm_device_ioctl(int fd, unsigned long type, ...)
 {
     int ret;
     void *arg;
diff --git a/target/i386/kvm/kvm.c b/target/i386/kvm/kvm.c
index 2fa88ef1e37..ada581c5d6e 100644
--- a/target/i386/kvm/kvm.c
+++ b/target/i386/kvm/kvm.c
@@ -4102,7 +4102,8 @@ static int kvm_get_xsave(X86CPU *cpu)
 {
     CPUX86State *env = &cpu->env;
     void *xsave = env->xsave_buf;
-    int type, ret;
+    unsigned long type;
+    int ret;
 
     type = has_xsave2 ? KVM_GET_XSAVE2 : KVM_GET_XSAVE;
     ret = kvm_vcpu_ioctl(CPU(cpu), type, xsave);
diff --git a/accel/kvm/trace-events b/accel/kvm/trace-events
index 37626c1ac5d..82c65fd2ab8 100644
--- a/accel/kvm/trace-events
+++ b/accel/kvm/trace-events
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 # See docs/devel/tracing.rst for syntax documentation.
 
 # kvm-all.c
-kvm_ioctl(int type, void *arg) "type 0x%x, arg %p"
-kvm_vm_ioctl(int type, void *arg) "type 0x%x, arg %p"
-kvm_vcpu_ioctl(int cpu_index, int type, void *arg) "cpu_index %d, type 0x%x, arg %p"
+kvm_ioctl(unsigned long type, void *arg) "type 0x%lx, arg %p"
+kvm_vm_ioctl(unsigned long type, void *arg) "type 0x%lx, arg %p"
+kvm_vcpu_ioctl(int cpu_index, unsigned long type, void *arg) "cpu_index %d, type 0x%lx, arg %p"
 kvm_run_exit(int cpu_index, uint32_t reason) "cpu_index %d, reason %d"
-kvm_device_ioctl(int fd, int type, void *arg) "dev fd %d, type 0x%x, arg %p"
+kvm_device_ioctl(int fd, unsigned long type, void *arg) "dev fd %d, type 0x%lx, arg %p"
 kvm_failed_reg_get(uint64_t id, const char *msg) "Warning: Unable to retrieve ONEREG %" PRIu64 " from KVM: %s"
 kvm_failed_reg_set(uint64_t id, const char *msg) "Warning: Unable to set ONEREG %" PRIu64 " to KVM: %s"
 kvm_init_vcpu(int cpu_index, unsigned long arch_cpu_id) "index: %d id: %lu"
