diff --git a/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/ch/inner_device.rs b/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/ch/inner_device.rs
index e8ca2d3793..1bd61e7d8e 100644
--- a/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/ch/inner_device.rs
+++ b/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/ch/inner_device.rs
@@ -315,7 +315,8 @@ impl CloudHypervisorInner {
             .ok_or("missing socket")
             .map_err(|e| anyhow!(e))?;
 
-        let disk_config = DiskConfig::try_from(device.config)?;
+        let mut disk_config = DiskConfig::try_from(device.config.clone())?;
+        disk_config.direct = self.config.blockdev_info.block_device_cache_direct;
 
         let response = cloud_hypervisor_vm_blockdev_add(
             socket.try_clone().context("failed to clone socket")?,
diff --git a/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/qemu/cmdline_generator.rs b/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/qemu/cmdline_generator.rs
index 9f57a30b32..9942959cb0 100644
--- a/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/qemu/cmdline_generator.rs
+++ b/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/qemu/cmdline_generator.rs
@@ -852,13 +852,13 @@ struct BlockBackend {
 }
 
 impl BlockBackend {
-    fn new(id: &str, path: &str) -> BlockBackend {
+    fn new(id: &str, path: &str, cache_direct: bool) -> BlockBackend {
         BlockBackend {
             driver: "file".to_owned(),
             id: id.to_owned(),
             path: path.to_owned(),
             aio: "threads".to_owned(),
-            cache_direct: true,
+            cache_direct,
             cache_no_flush: false,
             read_only: true,
         }
@@ -1959,9 +1959,9 @@ impl<'a> QemuCmdLine<'a> {
         Ok(())
     }
 
-    pub fn add_block_device(&mut self, device_id: &str, path: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    pub fn add_block_device(&mut self, device_id: &str, path: &str, is_direct: bool) -> Result<()> {
         self.devices
-            .push(Box::new(BlockBackend::new(device_id, path)));
+            .push(Box::new(BlockBackend::new(device_id, path, is_direct)));
         let devno = get_devno_ccw(&mut self.ccw_subchannel, device_id);
         self.devices.push(Box::new(DeviceVirtioBlk::new(
             device_id,
diff --git a/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/qemu/inner.rs b/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/qemu/inner.rs
index 1d3380ca40..6d1d6f691b 100644
--- a/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/qemu/inner.rs
+++ b/src/runtime-rs/crates/hypervisor/src/qemu/inner.rs
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ impl QemuInner {
                         "ccw" => cmdline.add_block_device(
                             block_dev.device_id.as_str(),
                             &block_dev.config.path_on_host,
+                            self.config.blockdev_info.block_device_cache_direct,
                         )?,
                         unsupported => {
                             info!(sl!(), "unsupported block device driver: {}", unsupported)