diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
index 92e745cea1..3e3e368da3 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
@@ -1739,6 +1739,7 @@ qemuValidateDomainDefVhostUserRequireSharedMemory(const virDomainDef *def,
 
 static int
 qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefNetwork(const virDomainNetDef *net,
+                                   const virDomainDef *def,
                                    virQEMUCaps *qemuCaps)
 {
     bool hasIPv4 = false;
@@ -1819,6 +1820,12 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefNetwork(const virDomainNetDef *net,
         return -1;
     }
 
+    if (net->type == VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VHOSTUSER &&
+        net->backend.type == VIR_DOMAIN_NET_BACKEND_PASST) {
+        if (qemuValidateDomainDefVhostUserRequireSharedMemory(def, "interface type=\"vhostuser\" backend type=\"passt\"") < 0)
+            return -1;
+    }
+
     if (net->type == VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_VDPA) {
         if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_NETDEV_VHOST_VDPA)) {
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
@@ -5443,7 +5450,7 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDef(const virDomainDeviceDef *dev,
 
     switch (dev->type) {
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_NET:
-        return qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefNetwork(dev->data.net, qemuCaps);
+        return qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefNetwork(dev->data.net, def, qemuCaps);
 
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_CHR:
         return qemuValidateDomainChrDef(dev->data.chr, def, qemuCaps);
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt-no-shmem.x86_64-latest.err b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt-no-shmem.x86_64-latest.err
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..274af5c722
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt-no-shmem.x86_64-latest.err
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+unsupported configuration: 'interface type="vhostuser" backend type="passt"' requires shared memory
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt-no-shmem.xml b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt-no-shmem.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e44c91e541
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt-no-shmem.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>219136</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219136</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='none'/>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>
+    </controller>
+    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>
+    <interface type='vhostuser'>
+      <mac address='00:11:22:33:44:55'/>
+      <ip address='172.17.2.0' family='ipv4' prefix='24'/>
+      <ip address='2001:db8:ac10:fd01::feed' family='ipv6'/>
+      <source dev='eth42'/>
+      <portForward proto='tcp' address='2001:db8:ac10:fd01::1:10'>
+        <range start='22' to='2022'/>
+        <range start='1000' end='1050'/>
+        <range start='1020' exclude='yes'/>
+        <range start='1030' end='1040' exclude='yes'/>
+      </portForward>
+      <portForward proto='udp' address='1.2.3.4' dev='eth0'>
+        <range start='5000' end='5020' to='6000'/>
+        <range start='5010' end='5015' exclude='yes'/>
+      </portForward>
+      <portForward proto='tcp'>
+        <range start='80'/>
+      </portForward>
+      <portForward proto='tcp'>
+        <range start='443' to='344'/>
+      </portForward>
+      <model type='virtio'/>
+      <backend type='passt' logFile='/var/log/loglaw.blog'/>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
+    </interface>
+    <interface type='vhostuser'>
+      <mac address='00:11:22:33:44:11'/>
+      <backend type='passt'/>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
+    </interface>
+    <interface type='vhostuser'>
+      <mac address='00:11:22:33:44:11'/>
+      <source dev='eth43'/>
+      <model type='virtio'/>
+      <backend type='passt'/>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>
+    </interface>
+    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
+    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>
+    <audio id='1' type='none'/>
+    <memballoon model='none'/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.x86_64-latest.args b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.x86_64-latest.args
index 21d78d6072..7c030d7067 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.x86_64-latest.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.x86_64-latest.args
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/.config \
 -accel tcg \
 -cpu qemu64 \
 -m size=219136k \
--object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"pc.ram","size":224395264}' \
+-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"pc.ram","mem-path":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/ram/-1-QEMUGuest1/pc.ram","share":true,"x-use-canonical-path-for-ramblock-id":false,"size":224395264}' \
 -overcommit mem-lock=off \
 -smp 1,sockets=1,cores=1,threads=1 \
 -uuid c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809 \
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.x86_64-latest.xml b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.x86_64-latest.xml
index 26aa4c8d05..a1f9366722 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.x86_64-latest.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.x86_64-latest.xml
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
   <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
   <memory unit='KiB'>219136</memory>
   <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219136</currentMemory>
+  <memoryBacking>
+    <access mode='shared'/>
+  </memoryBacking>
   <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
   <os>
     <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.xml b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.xml
index e44c91e541..71b845329b 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/net-vhostuser-passt.xml
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
   <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
   <memory unit='KiB'>219136</memory>
   <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219136</currentMemory>
+  <memoryBacking>
+    <access mode='shared'/>
+  </memoryBacking>
   <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
   <os>
     <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconftest.c b/tests/qemuxmlconftest.c
index 34674551a4..c271170d25 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxmlconftest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconftest.c
@@ -1794,6 +1794,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST_CAPS_VER("net-user-passt", "7.2.0");
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST_PARSE_ERROR("net-user-slirp-portforward");
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("net-vhostuser-passt");
+    DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST_PARSE_ERROR("net-vhostuser-passt-no-shmem");
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("net-virtio");
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("net-virtio-device");
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("net-virtio-disable-offloads");