diff --git a/include/hw/i386/microvm.h b/include/hw/i386/microvm.h
index fad97a891d..e8af61f194 100644
--- a/include/hw/i386/microvm.h
+++ b/include/hw/i386/microvm.h
@@ -50,8 +50,9 @@
  */
 
 /* Platform virtio definitions */
-#define VIRTIO_MMIO_BASE      0xfeb00000
-#define VIRTIO_CMDLINE_MAXLEN 64
+#define VIRTIO_MMIO_BASE                0xfeb00000
+#define VIRTIO_CMDLINE_MAXLEN           64
+#define VIRTIO_CMDLINE_TOTAL_MAX_LEN    ((VIRTIO_CMDLINE_MAXLEN + 1) * 16)
 
 #define GED_MMIO_BASE         0xfea00000
 #define GED_MMIO_BASE_MEMHP   (GED_MMIO_BASE + 0x100)
diff --git a/include/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.h b/include/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.h
index 2e503904dc..990dcdbb2e 100644
--- a/include/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.h
+++ b/include/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.h
@@ -139,6 +139,15 @@ void fw_cfg_add_bytes_callback(FWCfgState *s, uint16_t key,
                                void *data, size_t len,
                                bool read_only);
 
+/**
+ * fw_cfg_read_bytes_ptr:
+ * @s: fw_cfg device being modified
+ * @key: selector key value for new fw_cfg item
+ *
+ * Reads an existing fw_cfg data pointer.
+ */
+void *fw_cfg_read_bytes_ptr(FWCfgState *s, uint16_t key);
+
 /**
  * fw_cfg_add_string:
  * @s: fw_cfg device being modified
diff --git a/hw/i386/microvm.c b/hw/i386/microvm.c
index 170a331e3f..29f30dd6d3 100644
--- a/hw/i386/microvm.c
+++ b/hw/i386/microvm.c
@@ -378,7 +378,8 @@ static void microvm_fix_kernel_cmdline(MachineState *machine)
     MicrovmMachineState *mms = MICROVM_MACHINE(machine);
     BusState *bus;
     BusChild *kid;
-    char *cmdline;
+    char *cmdline, *existing_cmdline;
+    size_t len;
 
     /*
      * Find MMIO transports with attached devices, and add them to the kernel
@@ -387,7 +388,8 @@ static void microvm_fix_kernel_cmdline(MachineState *machine)
      * Yes, this is a hack, but one that heavily improves the UX without
      * introducing any significant issues.
      */
-    cmdline = g_strdup(machine->kernel_cmdline);
+    existing_cmdline = fw_cfg_read_bytes_ptr(x86ms->fw_cfg, FW_CFG_CMDLINE_DATA);
+    cmdline = g_strdup(existing_cmdline);
     bus = sysbus_get_default();
     QTAILQ_FOREACH(kid, &bus->children, sibling) {
         DeviceState *dev = kid->child;
@@ -411,9 +413,12 @@ static void microvm_fix_kernel_cmdline(MachineState *machine)
         }
     }
 
-    fw_cfg_modify_i32(x86ms->fw_cfg, FW_CFG_CMDLINE_SIZE, strlen(cmdline) + 1);
-    fw_cfg_modify_string(x86ms->fw_cfg, FW_CFG_CMDLINE_DATA, cmdline);
-
+    len = strlen(cmdline);
+    if (len > VIRTIO_CMDLINE_TOTAL_MAX_LEN + strlen(existing_cmdline)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "qemu: virtio mmio cmdline too large, skipping\n");
+    } else {
+        memcpy(existing_cmdline, cmdline, len + 1);
+    }
     g_free(cmdline);
 }
 
diff --git a/hw/i386/x86.c b/hw/i386/x86.c
index 78cc131926..eaff4227bd 100644
--- a/hw/i386/x86.c
+++ b/hw/i386/x86.c
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
 #include "hw/intc/i8259.h"
 #include "hw/rtc/mc146818rtc.h"
 #include "target/i386/sev.h"
+#include "hw/i386/microvm.h"
 
 #include "hw/acpi/cpu_hotplug.h"
 #include "hw/irq.h"
@@ -813,12 +814,18 @@ void x86_load_linux(X86MachineState *x86ms,
     const char *kernel_filename = machine->kernel_filename;
     const char *initrd_filename = machine->initrd_filename;
     const char *dtb_filename = machine->dtb;
-    const char *kernel_cmdline = machine->kernel_cmdline;
+    char *kernel_cmdline;
     SevKernelLoaderContext sev_load_ctx = {};
     enum { RNG_SEED_LENGTH = 32 };
 
-    /* Align to 16 bytes as a paranoia measure */
-    cmdline_size = (strlen(kernel_cmdline) + 16) & ~15;
+    /*
+     * Add the NUL terminator, some padding for the microvm cmdline fiddling
+     * hack, and then align to 16 bytes as a paranoia measure
+     */
+    cmdline_size = (strlen(machine->kernel_cmdline) + 1 +
+                    VIRTIO_CMDLINE_TOTAL_MAX_LEN + 16) & ~15;
+    /* Make a copy, since we might append arbitrary bytes to it later. */
+    kernel_cmdline = g_strndup(machine->kernel_cmdline, cmdline_size);
 
     /* load the kernel header */
     f = fopen(kernel_filename, "rb");
@@ -959,12 +966,6 @@ void x86_load_linux(X86MachineState *x86ms,
         initrd_max = x86ms->below_4g_mem_size - acpi_data_size - 1;
     }
 
-    fw_cfg_add_i32(fw_cfg, FW_CFG_CMDLINE_ADDR, cmdline_addr);
-    fw_cfg_add_i32(fw_cfg, FW_CFG_CMDLINE_SIZE, strlen(kernel_cmdline) + 1);
-    fw_cfg_add_string(fw_cfg, FW_CFG_CMDLINE_DATA, kernel_cmdline);
-    sev_load_ctx.cmdline_data = (char *)kernel_cmdline;
-    sev_load_ctx.cmdline_size = strlen(kernel_cmdline) + 1;
-
     if (protocol >= 0x202) {
         stl_p(header + 0x228, cmdline_addr);
     } else {
@@ -1091,27 +1092,24 @@ void x86_load_linux(X86MachineState *x86ms,
             exit(1);
         }
 
-        setup_data_offset = QEMU_ALIGN_UP(kernel_size, 16);
-        kernel_size = setup_data_offset + sizeof(SetupData) + dtb_size;
-        kernel = g_realloc(kernel, kernel_size);
-
-
-        setup_data = (SetupData *)(kernel + setup_data_offset);
+        setup_data_offset = cmdline_size;
+        cmdline_size += sizeof(SetupData) + dtb_size;
+        kernel_cmdline = g_realloc(kernel_cmdline, cmdline_size);
+        setup_data = (void *)kernel_cmdline + setup_data_offset;
         setup_data->next = cpu_to_le64(first_setup_data);
-        first_setup_data = prot_addr + setup_data_offset;
+        first_setup_data = cmdline_addr + setup_data_offset;
         setup_data->type = cpu_to_le32(SETUP_DTB);
         setup_data->len = cpu_to_le32(dtb_size);
-
         load_image_size(dtb_filename, setup_data->data, dtb_size);
     }
 
-    if (!legacy_no_rng_seed) {
-        setup_data_offset = QEMU_ALIGN_UP(kernel_size, 16);
-        kernel_size = setup_data_offset + sizeof(SetupData) + RNG_SEED_LENGTH;
-        kernel = g_realloc(kernel, kernel_size);
-        setup_data = (SetupData *)(kernel + setup_data_offset);
+    if (!legacy_no_rng_seed && protocol >= 0x209) {
+        setup_data_offset = cmdline_size;
+        cmdline_size += sizeof(SetupData) + RNG_SEED_LENGTH;
+        kernel_cmdline = g_realloc(kernel_cmdline, cmdline_size);
+        setup_data = (void *)kernel_cmdline + setup_data_offset;
         setup_data->next = cpu_to_le64(first_setup_data);
-        first_setup_data = prot_addr + setup_data_offset;
+        first_setup_data = cmdline_addr + setup_data_offset;
         setup_data->type = cpu_to_le32(SETUP_RNG_SEED);
         setup_data->len = cpu_to_le32(RNG_SEED_LENGTH);
         qemu_guest_getrandom_nofail(setup_data->data, RNG_SEED_LENGTH);
@@ -1122,6 +1120,12 @@ void x86_load_linux(X86MachineState *x86ms,
         fw_cfg_add_bytes(fw_cfg, FW_CFG_KERNEL_DATA, kernel, kernel_size);
     }
 
+    fw_cfg_add_i32(fw_cfg, FW_CFG_CMDLINE_ADDR, cmdline_addr);
+    fw_cfg_add_i32(fw_cfg, FW_CFG_CMDLINE_SIZE, cmdline_size);
+    fw_cfg_add_bytes(fw_cfg, FW_CFG_CMDLINE_DATA, kernel_cmdline, cmdline_size);
+    sev_load_ctx.cmdline_data = (char *)kernel_cmdline;
+    sev_load_ctx.cmdline_size = cmdline_size;
+
     fw_cfg_add_i32(fw_cfg, FW_CFG_KERNEL_ADDR, prot_addr);
     fw_cfg_add_i32(fw_cfg, FW_CFG_KERNEL_SIZE, kernel_size);
     sev_load_ctx.kernel_data = (char *)kernel;
@@ -1134,7 +1138,7 @@ void x86_load_linux(X86MachineState *x86ms,
      * kernel on the other side of the fw_cfg interface matches the hash of the
      * file the user passed in.
      */
-    if (!sev_enabled()) {
+    if (!sev_enabled() && first_setup_data) {
         SetupDataFixup *fixup = g_malloc(sizeof(*fixup));
 
         memcpy(setup, header, MIN(sizeof(header), setup_size));
diff --git a/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.c b/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.c
index a00881bc64..432754eda4 100644
--- a/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.c
+++ b/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.c
@@ -741,6 +741,15 @@ void fw_cfg_add_bytes(FWCfgState *s, uint16_t key, void *data, size_t len)
     fw_cfg_add_bytes_callback(s, key, NULL, NULL, NULL, data, len, true);
 }
 
+void *fw_cfg_read_bytes_ptr(FWCfgState *s, uint16_t key)
+{
+    int arch = !!(key & FW_CFG_ARCH_LOCAL);
+
+    key &= FW_CFG_ENTRY_MASK;
+    assert(key < fw_cfg_max_entry(s));
+    return s->entries[arch][key].data;
+}
+
 void fw_cfg_add_string(FWCfgState *s, uint16_t key, const char *value)
 {
     size_t sz = strlen(value) + 1;
