diff --git a/python/qemu/machine/machine.py b/python/qemu/machine/machine.py
index cc636cb6bd..c16a0b6fed 100644
--- a/python/qemu/machine/machine.py
+++ b/python/qemu/machine/machine.py
@@ -337,16 +337,17 @@ def _pre_launch(self) -> None:
             self._remove_files.append(self._console_address)
 
         if self._qmp_set:
-            sock = None
             if self._monitor_address is None:
                 self._sock_pair = socket.socketpair()
                 sock = self._sock_pair[1]
             if isinstance(self._monitor_address, str):
                 self._remove_files.append(self._monitor_address)
 
+            sock_or_addr = self._monitor_address or sock
+            assert sock_or_addr is not None
+
             self._qmp_connection = QEMUMonitorProtocol(
-                address=self._monitor_address,
-                sock=sock,
+                sock_or_addr,
                 server=bool(self._monitor_address),
                 nickname=self._name
             )
diff --git a/python/qemu/qmp/legacy.py b/python/qemu/qmp/legacy.py
index b1eb3f360f..e1e9383978 100644
--- a/python/qemu/qmp/legacy.py
+++ b/python/qemu/qmp/legacy.py
@@ -68,34 +68,31 @@ class QEMUMonitorProtocol:
     Provide an API to connect to QEMU via QEMU Monitor Protocol (QMP)
     and then allow to handle commands and events.
 
-    :param address:  QEMU address, can be either a unix socket path (string)
-                     or a tuple in the form ( address, port ) for a TCP
-                     connection or None
-    :param sock:     a socket or None
+    :param address:  QEMU address, can be a unix socket path (string), a tuple
+                     in the form ( address, port ) for a TCP connection, or an
+                     existing `socket.socket` object.
     :param server:   Act as the socket server. (See 'accept')
+                     Not applicable when passing a socket directly.
     :param nickname: Optional nickname used for logging.
     """
 
     def __init__(self,
-                 address: Optional[SocketAddrT] = None,
-                 sock: Optional[socket.socket] = None,
+                 address: Union[SocketAddrT, socket.socket],
                  server: bool = False,
                  nickname: Optional[str] = None):
 
-        assert address or sock
+        if server and isinstance(address, socket.socket):
+            raise ValueError(
+                "server argument should be False when passing a socket")
+
         self._qmp = QMPClient(nickname)
         self._aloop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
         self._address = address
-        self._sock = sock
         self._timeout: Optional[float] = None
 
         if server:
-            if sock:
-                assert self._sock is not None
-                self._sync(self._qmp.open_with_socket(self._sock))
-            else:
-                assert self._address is not None
-                self._sync(self._qmp.start_server(self._address))
+            assert not isinstance(self._address, socket.socket)
+            self._sync(self._qmp.start_server(self._address))
 
     _T = TypeVar('_T')
 
@@ -150,13 +147,11 @@ def connect(self, negotiate: bool = True) -> Optional[QMPMessage]:
         :return: QMP greeting dict, or None if negotiate is false
         :raise ConnectError: on connection errors
         """
-        addr_or_sock = self._address or self._sock
-        assert addr_or_sock is not None
         self._qmp.await_greeting = negotiate
         self._qmp.negotiate = negotiate
 
         self._sync(
-            self._qmp.connect(addr_or_sock)
+            self._qmp.connect(self._address)
         )
         return self._get_greeting()