diff --git a/lib/nvmf/vfio_user.c b/lib/nvmf/vfio_user.c
index bb0b6918d..0653fc507 100644
--- a/lib/nvmf/vfio_user.c
+++ b/lib/nvmf/vfio_user.c
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 
 /* NVMe spec 1.4, section 5.21.1.7 */
 SPDK_STATIC_ASSERT(NVMF_VFIO_USER_MAX_QPAIRS_PER_CTRLR >= 2 &&
-		   NVMF_VFIO_USER_MAX_QPAIRS_PER_CTRLR <= 65535,
+		   NVMF_VFIO_USER_MAX_QPAIRS_PER_CTRLR <= SPDK_NVME_MAX_IO_QUEUES,
 		   "bad number of queues");
 
 /*