diff --git a/include/kvm/arm_arch_timer.h b/include/kvm/arm_arch_timer.h
index 2352f3a4e88b..01ee473517e2 100644
--- a/include/kvm/arm_arch_timer.h
+++ b/include/kvm/arm_arch_timer.h
@@ -78,7 +78,8 @@ int kvm_arm_timer_set_attr(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, struct kvm_device_attr *attr);
 int kvm_arm_timer_get_attr(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, struct kvm_device_attr *attr);
 int kvm_arm_timer_has_attr(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, struct kvm_device_attr *attr);
 
-bool kvm_timer_should_fire(struct arch_timer_context *timer_ctx);
+bool kvm_timer_is_pending(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu);
+
 void kvm_timer_schedule(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu);
 void kvm_timer_unschedule(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu);
 
diff --git a/virt/kvm/arm/arch_timer.c b/virt/kvm/arm/arch_timer.c
index 53d9bd4a734f..2035cf251701 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/arm/arch_timer.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/arm/arch_timer.c
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ static const struct kvm_irq_level default_vtimer_irq = {
 static bool kvm_timer_irq_can_fire(struct arch_timer_context *timer_ctx);
 static void kvm_timer_update_irq(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, bool new_level,
 				 struct arch_timer_context *timer_ctx);
+static bool kvm_timer_should_fire(struct arch_timer_context *timer_ctx);
 
 u64 kvm_phys_timer_read(void)
 {
@@ -226,7 +227,7 @@ static enum hrtimer_restart kvm_phys_timer_expire(struct hrtimer *hrt)
 	return HRTIMER_NORESTART;
 }
 
-bool kvm_timer_should_fire(struct arch_timer_context *timer_ctx)
+static bool kvm_timer_should_fire(struct arch_timer_context *timer_ctx)
 {
 	u64 cval, now;
 
@@ -239,6 +240,25 @@ bool kvm_timer_should_fire(struct arch_timer_context *timer_ctx)
 	return cval <= now;
 }
 
+bool kvm_timer_is_pending(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
+{
+	struct arch_timer_context *vtimer = vcpu_vtimer(vcpu);
+	struct arch_timer_context *ptimer = vcpu_ptimer(vcpu);
+
+	if (vtimer->irq.level || ptimer->irq.level)
+		return true;
+
+	/*
+	 * When this is called from withing the wait loop of kvm_vcpu_block(),
+	 * the software view of the timer state is up to date (timer->loaded
+	 * is false), and so we can simply check if the timer should fire now.
+	 */
+	if (!vtimer->loaded && kvm_timer_should_fire(vtimer))
+		return true;
+
+	return kvm_timer_should_fire(ptimer);
+}
+
 /*
  * Reflect the timer output level into the kvm_run structure
  */
diff --git a/virt/kvm/arm/arm.c b/virt/kvm/arm/arm.c
index 14c50d142c67..bc126fb99a3d 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/arm/arm.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/arm/arm.c
@@ -307,8 +307,7 @@ void kvm_arch_vcpu_destroy(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
 
 int kvm_cpu_has_pending_timer(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
 {
-	return kvm_timer_should_fire(vcpu_vtimer(vcpu)) ||
-	       kvm_timer_should_fire(vcpu_ptimer(vcpu));
+	return kvm_timer_is_pending(vcpu);
 }
 
 void kvm_arch_vcpu_blocking(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)