diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/libvirt/test_pci_sriov_servers.py b/nova/tests/functional/libvirt/test_pci_sriov_servers.py
index 098a0e857bd7..190fe73517fc 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/libvirt/test_pci_sriov_servers.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/libvirt/test_pci_sriov_servers.py
@@ -1394,9 +1394,6 @@ class VDPAServersTest(_PCIServersWithMigrationTestBase):
     NUM_PFS = 1
     NUM_VFS = 4
 
-    FAKE_LIBVIRT_VERSION = 6_009_000  # 6.9.0
-    FAKE_QEMU_VERSION = 5_001_000  # 5.1.0
-
     def setUp(self):
         super().setUp()
         # The ultimate base class _IntegratedTestBase uses NeutronFixture but
@@ -1444,9 +1441,7 @@ class VDPAServersTest(_PCIServersWithMigrationTestBase):
             vdpa_info.add_device(f'vdpa_vdpa{idx}', idx, vf)
 
         return super().start_compute(hostname=hostname,
-            pci_info=pci_info, vdpa_info=vdpa_info,
-            libvirt_version=self.FAKE_LIBVIRT_VERSION,
-            qemu_version=self.FAKE_QEMU_VERSION)
+            pci_info=pci_info, vdpa_info=vdpa_info)
 
     def create_vdpa_port(self):
         vdpa_port = {
@@ -3661,7 +3656,6 @@ class RemoteManagedServersTest(_PCIServersWithMigrationTestBase):
 
     # Min Libvirt version that supports working with PCI VPD.
     FAKE_LIBVIRT_VERSION = 7_009_000  # 7.9.0
-    FAKE_QEMU_VERSION = 5_001_000  # 5.1.0
 
     def setUp(self):
         super().setUp()
@@ -3790,8 +3784,7 @@ class RemoteManagedServersTest(_PCIServersWithMigrationTestBase):
         return super().start_compute(
             hostname=hostname, host_info=host_info, pci_info=pci_info,
             mdev_info=mdev_info, vdpa_info=vdpa_info,
-            libvirt_version=libvirt_version or self.FAKE_LIBVIRT_VERSION,
-            qemu_version=qemu_version or self.FAKE_QEMU_VERSION)
+            libvirt_version=libvirt_version or self.FAKE_LIBVIRT_VERSION)
 
     def create_remote_managed_tunnel_port(self):
         dpu_tunnel_port = {
diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/libvirt/test_vpmem.py b/nova/tests/functional/libvirt/test_vpmem.py
index cb524fe8b60e..0c1015930cb2 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/libvirt/test_vpmem.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/libvirt/test_vpmem.py
@@ -30,9 +30,6 @@ LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 class VPMEMTestBase(integrated_helpers.LibvirtProviderUsageBaseTestCase):
 
-    FAKE_LIBVIRT_VERSION = 5000000
-    FAKE_QEMU_VERSION = 3001000
-
     def setUp(self):
         super(VPMEMTestBase, self).setUp()
 
@@ -89,8 +86,6 @@ class VPMEMTestBase(integrated_helpers.LibvirtProviderUsageBaseTestCase):
     def _get_connection(self, host_info, hostname=None):
         fake_connection = fakelibvirt.Connection(
             'qemu:///system',
-            version=self.FAKE_LIBVIRT_VERSION,
-            hv_version=self.FAKE_QEMU_VERSION,
             host_info=host_info,
             hostname=hostname)
         return fake_connection
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
index 57f216712ff3..baabe14487b6 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
@@ -8673,7 +8673,7 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase,
                 self.assertIsInstance(device,
                                       vconfig.LibvirtConfigGuestIOMMU)
                 self.assertEqual('intel', device.model)
-                self.assertFalse(hasattr(device, "aw_bits"))
+                self.assertTrue(hasattr(device, "aw_bits"))
                 self.assertTrue(device.interrupt_remapping)
                 self.assertTrue(device.caching_mode)
                 self.assertTrue(device.eim)
@@ -8782,7 +8782,7 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase,
                 self.assertIsInstance(device,
                                       vconfig.LibvirtConfigGuestIOMMU)
                 self.assertEqual('smmuv3', device.model)
-                self.assertFalse(hasattr(device, "aw_bits"))
+                self.assertTrue(hasattr(device, "aw_bits"))
                 self.assertTrue(device.interrupt_remapping)
                 self.assertTrue(device.caching_mode)
                 self.assertFalse(device.eim)
@@ -11656,30 +11656,10 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase,
                 instance)
         self.assertIsNone(ret)
 
-    @mock.patch.object(fakelibvirt.Connection, 'getLibVersion',
-                       return_value=versionutils.convert_version_to_int(
-                           libvirt_driver.MIN_LIBVIRT_AARCH64_CPU_COMPARE) - 1
-                       )
-    @mock.patch.object(nova.virt.libvirt, 'config')
-    def test_compare_cpu_aarch64_skip_comparison(self,
-                                                 mock_vconfig,
-                                                 mock_get_libversion):
-        instance = objects.Instance(**self.test_instance)
-        self.mock_uname.return_value = fakelibvirt.os_uname(
-            'Linux', '', '5.4.0-0-generic', '', fields.Architecture.AARCH64)
-        conn = libvirt_driver.LibvirtDriver(fake.FakeVirtAPI(), False)
-        ret = conn._compare_cpu(None, jsonutils.dumps(_fake_cpu_info_aarch64),
-                instance)
-        self.assertIsNone(ret)
-
     @mock.patch.object(host.Host, 'get_capabilities')
-    @mock.patch.object(fakelibvirt.Connection, 'getLibVersion',
-                       return_value=versionutils.convert_version_to_int(
-                           libvirt_driver.MIN_LIBVIRT_AARCH64_CPU_COMPARE))
     @mock.patch.object(host.Host, 'compare_hypervisor_cpu')
     def test_compare_cpu_host_aarch64(self,
                                       mock_compare,
-                                      mock_get_libversion,
                                       mock_caps):
         instance = objects.Instance(**self.test_instance)
         mock_compare.return_value = 6
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
index b51b57fbec36..ada10cdc53f0 100644
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
@@ -216,18 +216,14 @@ patch_tpool_proxy()
 # doc/source/reference/libvirt-distro-support-matrix.rst
 #
 # DO NOT FORGET to update this document when touching any versions below!
-MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION = (6, 0, 0)
-MIN_QEMU_VERSION = (4, 2, 0)
+MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION = (7, 0, 0)
+MIN_QEMU_VERSION = (5, 2, 0)
 NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION = (8, 0, 0)
 NEXT_MIN_QEMU_VERSION = (6, 2, 0)
 
-# vIOMMU driver attribute aw_bits minimal support version.
-MIN_LIBVIRT_VIOMMU_AW_BITS = (6, 5, 0)
-
 # vIOMMU model value `virtio` minimal support version
 MIN_LIBVIRT_VIOMMU_VIRTIO_MODEL = (8, 3, 0)
 
-MIN_LIBVIRT_AARCH64_CPU_COMPARE = (6, 9, 0)
 
 MIN_LIBVIRT_TB_CACHE_SIZE = (8, 0, 0)
 
@@ -248,9 +244,6 @@ VGPU_RESOURCE_SEMAPHORE = 'vgpu_resources'
 
 LIBVIRT_PERF_EVENT_PREFIX = 'VIR_PERF_PARAM_'
 
-# VDPA interface support
-MIN_LIBVIRT_VDPA = (6, 9, 0)
-MIN_QEMU_VDPA = (5, 1, 0)
 
 # Maxphysaddr minimal support version.
 MIN_LIBVIRT_MAXPHYSADDR = (8, 7, 0)
@@ -7537,8 +7530,7 @@ class LibvirtDriver(driver.ComputeDriver):
 
         # As Qemu supported values are 39 and 48, we set this to
         # larger width (48) by default and will not exposed to end user.
-        if self._host.has_min_version(MIN_LIBVIRT_VIOMMU_AW_BITS):
-            iommu.aw_bits = 48
+        iommu.aw_bits = 48
 
         if guest.os_mach_type is not None and 'q35' in guest.os_mach_type:
             iommu.eim = True
@@ -8214,12 +8206,9 @@ class LibvirtDriver(driver.ComputeDriver):
         """
         dev_flags = (
             libvirt.VIR_CONNECT_LIST_NODE_DEVICES_CAP_NET |
-            libvirt.VIR_CONNECT_LIST_NODE_DEVICES_CAP_PCI_DEV
+            libvirt.VIR_CONNECT_LIST_NODE_DEVICES_CAP_PCI_DEV |
+            libvirt.VIR_CONNECT_LIST_NODE_DEVICES_CAP_VDPA
         )
-        if self._host.has_min_version(
-            lv_ver=MIN_LIBVIRT_VDPA, hv_ver=MIN_QEMU_VDPA,
-        ):
-            dev_flags |= libvirt.VIR_CONNECT_LIST_NODE_DEVICES_CAP_VDPA
 
         devices = {
             dev.name(): dev for dev in
@@ -10019,17 +10008,11 @@ class LibvirtDriver(driver.ComputeDriver):
 
         host_cpu = self._host.get_capabilities().host.cpu
         if host_cpu.arch == fields.Architecture.AARCH64:
-            if self._host.has_min_version(MIN_LIBVIRT_AARCH64_CPU_COMPARE):
-                LOG.debug("On AArch64 hosts, source and destination host "
-                          "CPUs are compared to check if they're compatible"
-                          "(the only use-case supported by libvirt for "
-                          "Arm64/AArch64)")
-                cpu = host_cpu
-            else:
-                LOG.debug("You need %s libvirt version to be able to compare "
-                          "source host CPU with destination host CPU; skip "
-                          "CPU comparison", MIN_LIBVIRT_AARCH64_CPU_COMPARE)
-                return
+            LOG.debug("On AArch64 hosts, source and destination host "
+                      "CPUs are compared to check if they're compatible"
+                      "(the only use-case supported by libvirt for "
+                      "Arm64/AArch64)")
+            cpu = host_cpu
 
         u = ("http://libvirt.org/html/libvirt-libvirt-host.html#"
              "virCPUCompareResult")
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/bobcat-libvirt-QEMU-version-bump-720b2528d521dfb1.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/bobcat-libvirt-QEMU-version-bump-720b2528d521dfb1.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..669a55ae960a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/bobcat-libvirt-QEMU-version-bump-720b2528d521dfb1.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+upgrade:
+  - |
+    The minimum required version of libvirt by the `nova-compute`
+    service is now 7.0.0, and the minimum required version of QEMU is
+    5.2.0. Failing to meet these minimum versions when using the libvirt
+    compute driver will result in the `nova-compute` service not
+    starting.
+
+    The next minimum required version of libvirt to be used in a future
+    release is 8.0.0, while the next minimum QEMU is 6.2.0.