diff --git a/src/basic/socket-util.c b/src/basic/socket-util.c
index 6e304e840d2..5849799f05d 100644
--- a/src/basic/socket-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/socket-util.c
@@ -1757,13 +1757,12 @@ int socket_address_parse_vsock(SocketAddress *ret_address, const char *s) {
 int vsock_get_local_cid(unsigned *ret) {
         _cleanup_close_ int vsock_fd = -EBADF;
 
-        assert(ret);
-
         vsock_fd = open("/dev/vsock", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC);
         if (vsock_fd < 0)
                 return log_debug_errno(errno, "Failed to open /dev/vsock: %m");
 
-        if (ioctl(vsock_fd, IOCTL_VM_SOCKETS_GET_LOCAL_CID, ret) < 0)
+        unsigned tmp;
+        if (ioctl(vsock_fd, IOCTL_VM_SOCKETS_GET_LOCAL_CID, ret ?: &tmp) < 0)
                 return log_debug_errno(errno, "Failed to query local AF_VSOCK CID: %m");
 
         return 0;
diff --git a/src/machine/machined.c b/src/machine/machined.c
index 398375bc5e2..60badbf5d07 100644
--- a/src/machine/machined.c
+++ b/src/machine/machined.c
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include "process-util.h"
 #include "service-util.h"
 #include "signal-util.h"
+#include "socket-util.h"
 #include "special.h"
 
 static Manager* manager_unref(Manager *m);
@@ -143,6 +144,11 @@ static int manager_add_host_machine(Manager *m) {
         t->leader = TAKE_PIDREF(pidref);
         t->id = mid;
 
+        /* If vsock is available, let's expose the loopback CID for the local host (and not the actual local
+         * CID, in order to return a ideally constant record for the host) */
+        if (vsock_get_local_cid(/* ret= */ NULL) >= 0)
+                t->vsock_cid = VMADDR_CID_LOCAL;
+
         t->root_directory = TAKE_PTR(rd);
         t->unit = TAKE_PTR(unit);