diff --git a/testsuite/driver/cpu_features.py b/testsuite/driver/cpu_features.py
index 6e32d3b4459ce349910e99312599524b22c766b5..b4b373c48b7024be34c4b057189e3f97c724bbdb 100644
--- a/testsuite/driver/cpu_features.py
+++ b/testsuite/driver/cpu_features.py
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ SUPPORTED_CPU_FEATURES = {
 cpu_feature_cache = None
 
 def get_cpu_features():
+    # we're testing a cross ghc, don't attempt to detect host cpu
+    # configuration
+    if config.target_wrapper is not None:
+        return {}
+
     if config.os in ['mingw32', 'linux'] and os.path.exists('/proc/cpuinfo'):
         f = open('/proc/cpuinfo').read()
         flags = re.search(r'flags\s*:\s*.*$', f, re.M)