diff --git a/hw/misc/sifive_e_aon.c b/hw/misc/sifive_e_aon.c
index 0e82ae3758..e78f4f5672 100644
--- a/hw/misc/sifive_e_aon.c
+++ b/hw/misc/sifive_e_aon.c
@@ -94,9 +94,9 @@ static void sifive_e_aon_wdt_update_state(SiFiveEAONState *r)
         next += muldiv64((r->wdogcmp0 - wdogs) <<
                          FIELD_EX32(r->wdogcfg, AON_WDT_WDOGCFG, SCALE),
                          NANOSECONDS_PER_SECOND, r->wdogclk_freq);
-        timer_mod(r->wdog_timer, next);
+        timer_mod(&r->wdog_timer, next);
     } else {
-        timer_mod(r->wdog_timer, INT64_MAX);
+        timer_mod(&r->wdog_timer, INT64_MAX);
     }
 }
 
@@ -283,12 +283,19 @@ static void sifive_e_aon_init(Object *obj)
     sysbus_init_mmio(sbd, &r->mmio);
 
     /* watchdog timer */
-    r->wdog_timer = timer_new_ns(QEMU_CLOCK_VIRTUAL,
-                                 sifive_e_aon_wdt_expired_cb, r);
+    timer_init_ns(&r->wdog_timer, QEMU_CLOCK_VIRTUAL,
+                  sifive_e_aon_wdt_expired_cb, r);
     r->wdogclk_freq = SIFIVE_E_LFCLK_DEFAULT_FREQ;
     sysbus_init_irq(sbd, &r->wdog_irq);
 }
 
+static void sifive_e_aon_finalize(Object *obj)
+{
+    SiFiveEAONState *r = SIFIVE_E_AON(obj);
+
+    timer_del(&r->wdog_timer);
+}
+
 static const Property sifive_e_aon_properties[] = {
     DEFINE_PROP_UINT64("wdogclk-frequency", SiFiveEAONState, wdogclk_freq,
                        SIFIVE_E_LFCLK_DEFAULT_FREQ),
@@ -307,6 +314,7 @@ static const TypeInfo sifive_e_aon_info = {
     .parent        = TYPE_SYS_BUS_DEVICE,
     .instance_size = sizeof(SiFiveEAONState),
     .instance_init = sifive_e_aon_init,
+    .instance_finalize = sifive_e_aon_finalize,
     .class_init    = sifive_e_aon_class_init,
 };
 
diff --git a/include/hw/misc/sifive_e_aon.h b/include/hw/misc/sifive_e_aon.h
index efa2c3023f..e907aa7869 100644
--- a/include/hw/misc/sifive_e_aon.h
+++ b/include/hw/misc/sifive_e_aon.h
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ struct SiFiveEAONState {
     MemoryRegion mmio;
 
     /*< watchdog timer >*/
-    QEMUTimer *wdog_timer;
+    QEMUTimer wdog_timer;
     qemu_irq wdog_irq;
     uint64_t wdog_restart_time;
     uint64_t wdogclk_freq;