diff --git a/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-3.1.0.ebuild b/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-3.1.0.ebuild
index 328afccf34663..316cf8925059d 100644
--- a/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-3.1.0.ebuild
+++ b/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-3.1.0.ebuild
@@ -768,7 +768,8 @@ pkg_postinst() {
 		udev_reload
 	fi
 
-	fcaps cap_net_admin /usr/libexec/qemu-bridge-helper
+	[[ -f ${D}/usr/libexec/qemu-bridge-helper ]] && \
+		fcaps cap_net_admin /usr/libexec/qemu-bridge-helper
 
 	DISABLE_AUTOFORMATTING=true
 	readme.gentoo_print_elog
diff --git a/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-9999.ebuild b/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-9999.ebuild
index 1c99bc24161aa..7561f0f611c00 100644
--- a/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-9999.ebuild
+++ b/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-9999.ebuild
@@ -760,7 +760,8 @@ pkg_postinst() {
 		udev_reload
 	fi
 
-	fcaps cap_net_admin /usr/libexec/qemu-bridge-helper
+	[[ -f ${D}/usr/libexec/qemu-bridge-helper ]] && \
+		fcaps cap_net_admin /usr/libexec/qemu-bridge-helper
 
 	DISABLE_AUTOFORMATTING=true
 	readme.gentoo_print_elog