diff --git a/lib/vhost/rte_vhost_compat.c b/lib/vhost/rte_vhost_compat.c
index df71775b7..abebf68f8 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/rte_vhost_compat.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/rte_vhost_compat.c
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ spdk_extern_vhost_pre_msg_handler(int vid, void *_msg)
 
 	switch (msg->request) {
 	case VHOST_USER_GET_VRING_BASE:
-		if (vsession->forced_polling && vsession->lcore != -1) {
+		if (vsession->forced_polling && vsession->started) {
 			/* Our queue is stopped for whatever reason, but we may still
 			 * need to poll it after it's initialized again.
 			 */
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ spdk_extern_vhost_pre_msg_handler(int vid, void *_msg)
 	case VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_ADDR:
 	case VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_NUM:
 	case VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_KICK:
-		if (vsession->forced_polling && vsession->lcore != -1) {
+		if (vsession->forced_polling && vsession->started) {
 			/* Additional queues are being initialized, so we either processed
 			 * enough I/Os and are switching from SeaBIOS to the OS now, or
 			 * we were never in SeaBIOS in the first place. Either way, we
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ spdk_extern_vhost_pre_msg_handler(int vid, void *_msg)
 		 * We will start the device again from the post-processing
 		 * message handler.
 		 */
-		if (vsession->lcore != -1) {
+		if (vsession->started) {
 			g_spdk_vhost_ops.destroy_device(vid);
 			vsession->needs_restart = true;
 		}
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ spdk_extern_vhost_post_msg_handler(int vid, void *_msg)
 		/* vhost-user spec tells us to start polling a queue after receiving
 		 * its SET_VRING_KICK message. Let's do it!
 		 */
-		if (vsession->forced_polling && vsession->lcore == -1) {
+		if (vsession->forced_polling && !vsession->started) {
 			g_spdk_vhost_ops.new_device(vid);
 		}
 		break;
diff --git a/lib/vhost/vhost.c b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
index ec8d2659d..5a71308a4 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -899,6 +899,7 @@ spdk_vhost_session_start_done(struct spdk_vhost_session *vsession, int response)
 {
 	if (response == 0) {
 		vsession->lcore = spdk_env_get_current_core();
+		vsession->started = true;
 		assert(vsession->vdev->active_session_num < UINT32_MAX);
 		vsession->vdev->active_session_num++;
 	}
@@ -910,6 +911,7 @@ spdk_vhost_session_stop_done(struct spdk_vhost_session *vsession, int response)
 {
 	if (response == 0) {
 		vsession->lcore = -1;
+		vsession->started = false;
 		assert(vsession->vdev->active_session_num > 0);
 		vsession->vdev->active_session_num--;
 	}
@@ -963,7 +965,7 @@ spdk_vhost_event_async_foreach_fn(void *arg1, void *arg2)
 		goto out_unlock_continue;
 	}
 
-	if (vsession->lcore >= 0 &&
+	if (vsession->started &&
 	    (uint32_t)vsession->lcore != spdk_env_get_current_core()) {
 		/* if session has been relocated to other core, it is no longer thread-safe
 		 * to access its contents here. Even though we're running under the global
@@ -1099,7 +1101,7 @@ stop_device(int vid)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	if (vsession->lcore == -1) {
+	if (!vsession->started) {
 		/* already stopped, nothing to do */
 		pthread_mutex_unlock(&g_spdk_vhost_mutex);
 		return;
@@ -1126,7 +1128,7 @@ start_device(int vid)
 	}
 
 	vdev = vsession->vdev;
-	if (vsession->lcore != -1) {
+	if (vsession->started) {
 		/* already started, nothing to do */
 		rc = 0;
 		goto out;
@@ -1345,6 +1347,7 @@ new_connection(int vid)
 	vsession->id = vdev->vsessions_num++;
 	vsession->vid = vid;
 	vsession->lcore = -1;
+	vsession->started = false;
 	vsession->initialized = false;
 	vsession->next_stats_check_time = 0;
 	vsession->stats_check_interval = SPDK_VHOST_STATS_CHECK_INTERVAL_MS *
@@ -1369,7 +1372,7 @@ destroy_connection(int vid)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	if (vsession->lcore != -1) {
+	if (vsession->started) {
 		_stop_session(vsession);
 	}
 
@@ -1389,7 +1392,7 @@ spdk_vhost_external_event_foreach_continue(struct spdk_vhost_dev *vdev,
 		goto out_finish_foreach;
 	}
 
-	while (vsession->lcore == -1) {
+	while (!vsession->started) {
 		if (vsession->initialized) {
 			rc = fn(vdev, vsession, arg);
 			if (rc < 0) {
diff --git a/lib/vhost/vhost_internal.h b/lib/vhost/vhost_internal.h
index 242e51b03..0e926d951 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/vhost_internal.h
+++ b/lib/vhost/vhost_internal.h
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ struct spdk_vhost_session {
 	int32_t lcore;
 
 	bool initialized;
+	bool started;
 	bool needs_restart;
 	bool forced_polling;
 
diff --git a/lib/vhost/vhost_scsi.c b/lib/vhost/vhost_scsi.c
index 99498184c..7c5b43ad2 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/vhost_scsi.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/vhost_scsi.c
@@ -947,7 +947,7 @@ spdk_vhost_scsi_session_add_tgt(struct spdk_vhost_dev *vdev,
 
 	svsession = (struct spdk_vhost_scsi_session *)vsession;
 	session_sdev = &svsession->scsi_dev_state[scsi_tgt_num];
-	if (vsession->lcore == -1 || session_sdev->dev != NULL) {
+	if (!vsession->started || session_sdev->dev != NULL) {
 		/* Nothing to do. */
 		return 0;
 	}
@@ -1092,7 +1092,7 @@ spdk_vhost_scsi_session_remove_tgt(struct spdk_vhost_dev *vdev,
 	svsession = (struct spdk_vhost_scsi_session *)vsession;
 	state = &svsession->scsi_dev_state[scsi_tgt_num];
 
-	if (vsession->lcore == -1 || state->dev == NULL) {
+	if (!vsession->started || state->dev == NULL) {
 		/* Nothing to do */
 		return 0;
 	}
diff --git a/test/unit/lib/vhost/vhost.c/vhost_ut.c b/test/unit/lib/vhost/vhost.c/vhost_ut.c
index c4200ce30..5f8cdd357 100644
--- a/test/unit/lib/vhost/vhost.c/vhost_ut.c
+++ b/test/unit/lib/vhost/vhost.c/vhost_ut.c
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ start_vdev(struct spdk_vhost_dev *vdev)
 	CU_ASSERT(rc == 0);
 	SPDK_CU_ASSERT_FATAL(vsession != NULL);
 	vsession->lcore = 0;
+	vsession->started = true;
 	vsession->vid = 0;
 	vsession->mem = mem;
 	TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&vdev->vsessions, vsession, tailq);