diff --git a/hw/vfio/ccw.c b/hw/vfio/ccw.c
index 351b305e1ae7..e96bbdc78b48 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/ccw.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/ccw.c
@@ -349,6 +349,15 @@ static void vfio_ccw_get_device(VFIOGroup *group, VFIOCCWDevice *vcdev,
         }
     }
 
+    /*
+     * All vfio-ccw devices are believed to operate in a way compatible with
+     * memory ballooning, ie. pages pinned in the host are in the current
+     * working set of the guest driver and therefore never overlap with pages
+     * available to the guest balloon driver.  This needs to be set before
+     * vfio_get_device() for vfio common to handle the balloon inhibitor.
+     */
+    vcdev->vdev.balloon_allowed = true;
+
     if (vfio_get_device(group, vcdev->cdev.mdevid, &vcdev->vdev, errp)) {
         goto out_err;
     }
diff --git a/hw/vfio/common.c b/hw/vfio/common.c
index a3d758af8d8f..cd1f4af18abb 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/common.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/common.c
@@ -1381,7 +1381,9 @@ void vfio_put_group(VFIOGroup *group)
         return;
     }
 
-    qemu_balloon_inhibit(false);
+    if (!group->balloon_allowed) {
+        qemu_balloon_inhibit(false);
+    }
     vfio_kvm_device_del_group(group);
     vfio_disconnect_container(group);
     QLIST_REMOVE(group, next);
@@ -1417,6 +1419,25 @@ int vfio_get_device(VFIOGroup *group, const char *name,
         return ret;
     }
 
+    /*
+     * Clear the balloon inhibitor for this group if the driver knows the
+     * device operates compatibly with ballooning.  Setting must be consistent
+     * per group, but since compatibility is really only possible with mdev
+     * currently, we expect singleton groups.
+     */
+    if (vbasedev->balloon_allowed != group->balloon_allowed) {
+        if (!QLIST_EMPTY(&group->device_list)) {
+            error_setg(errp,
+                       "Inconsistent device balloon setting within group");
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        if (!group->balloon_allowed) {
+            group->balloon_allowed = true;
+            qemu_balloon_inhibit(false);
+        }
+    }
+
     vbasedev->fd = fd;
     vbasedev->group = group;
     QLIST_INSERT_HEAD(&group->device_list, vbasedev, next);
diff --git a/hw/vfio/pci.c b/hw/vfio/pci.c
index 6cbb8fa0549d..056f3a887a8f 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/pci.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/pci.c
@@ -2804,12 +2804,13 @@ static void vfio_realize(PCIDevice *pdev, Error **errp)
     VFIOPCIDevice *vdev = DO_UPCAST(VFIOPCIDevice, pdev, pdev);
     VFIODevice *vbasedev_iter;
     VFIOGroup *group;
-    char *tmp, group_path[PATH_MAX], *group_name;
+    char *tmp, *subsys, group_path[PATH_MAX], *group_name;
     Error *err = NULL;
     ssize_t len;
     struct stat st;
     int groupid;
     int i, ret;
+    bool is_mdev;
 
     if (!vdev->vbasedev.sysfsdev) {
         if (!(~vdev->host.domain || ~vdev->host.bus ||
@@ -2869,6 +2870,27 @@ static void vfio_realize(PCIDevice *pdev, Error **errp)
         }
     }
 
+    /*
+     * Mediated devices *might* operate compatibly with memory ballooning, but
+     * we cannot know for certain, it depends on whether the mdev vendor driver
+     * stays in sync with the active working set of the guest driver.  Prevent
+     * the x-balloon-allowed option unless this is minimally an mdev device.
+     */
+    tmp = g_strdup_printf("%s/subsystem", vdev->vbasedev.sysfsdev);
+    subsys = realpath(tmp, NULL);
+    g_free(tmp);
+    is_mdev = (strcmp(subsys, "/sys/bus/mdev") == 0);
+    free(subsys);
+
+    trace_vfio_mdev(vdev->vbasedev.name, is_mdev);
+
+    if (vdev->vbasedev.balloon_allowed && !is_mdev) {
+        error_setg(errp, "x-balloon-allowed only potentially compatible "
+                   "with mdev devices");
+        vfio_put_group(group);
+        goto error;
+    }
+
     ret = vfio_get_device(group, vdev->vbasedev.name, &vdev->vbasedev, errp);
     if (ret) {
         vfio_put_group(group);
@@ -3170,6 +3192,8 @@ static Property vfio_pci_dev_properties[] = {
     DEFINE_PROP_BIT("x-igd-opregion", VFIOPCIDevice, features,
                     VFIO_FEATURE_ENABLE_IGD_OPREGION_BIT, false),
     DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("x-no-mmap", VFIOPCIDevice, vbasedev.no_mmap, false),
+    DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("x-balloon-allowed", VFIOPCIDevice,
+                     vbasedev.balloon_allowed, false),
     DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("x-no-kvm-intx", VFIOPCIDevice, no_kvm_intx, false),
     DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("x-no-kvm-msi", VFIOPCIDevice, no_kvm_msi, false),
     DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("x-no-kvm-msix", VFIOPCIDevice, no_kvm_msix, false),
diff --git a/hw/vfio/trace-events b/hw/vfio/trace-events
index d2a74952e389..a85e8662eadb 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/trace-events
+++ b/hw/vfio/trace-events
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ vfio_pci_hot_reset_result(const char *name, const char *result) "%s hot reset: %
 vfio_populate_device_config(const char *name, unsigned long size, unsigned long offset, unsigned long flags) "Device %s config:\n  size: 0x%lx, offset: 0x%lx, flags: 0x%lx"
 vfio_populate_device_get_irq_info_failure(void) "VFIO_DEVICE_GET_IRQ_INFO failure: %m"
 vfio_realize(const char *name, int group_id) " (%s) group %d"
+vfio_mdev(const char *name, bool is_mdev) " (%s) is_mdev %d"
 vfio_add_ext_cap_dropped(const char *name, uint16_t cap, uint16_t offset) "%s 0x%x@0x%x"
 vfio_pci_reset(const char *name) " (%s)"
 vfio_pci_reset_flr(const char *name) "%s FLR/VFIO_DEVICE_RESET"
diff --git a/include/hw/vfio/vfio-common.h b/include/hw/vfio/vfio-common.h
index a9036929b220..15ea6c26fdbc 100644
--- a/include/hw/vfio/vfio-common.h
+++ b/include/hw/vfio/vfio-common.h
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ typedef struct VFIODevice {
     bool reset_works;
     bool needs_reset;
     bool no_mmap;
+    bool balloon_allowed;
     VFIODeviceOps *ops;
     unsigned int num_irqs;
     unsigned int num_regions;
@@ -131,6 +132,7 @@ typedef struct VFIOGroup {
     QLIST_HEAD(, VFIODevice) device_list;
     QLIST_ENTRY(VFIOGroup) next;
     QLIST_ENTRY(VFIOGroup) container_next;
+    bool balloon_allowed;
 } VFIOGroup;
 
 typedef struct VFIODMABuf {
