diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/039 b/tests/qemu-iotests/039
index 7c730d94a7..325da63a4c 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/039
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/039
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ echo "== Creating a dirty image file =="
 IMGOPTS="compat=1.1,lazy_refcounts=on"
 _make_test_img $size
 
+_NO_VALGRIND \
 $QEMU_IO -c "write -P 0x5a 0 512" \
          -c "sigraise $(kill -l KILL)" "$TEST_IMG" 2>&1 \
     | _filter_qemu_io
@@ -100,6 +101,7 @@ echo "== Opening a dirty image read/write should repair it =="
 IMGOPTS="compat=1.1,lazy_refcounts=on"
 _make_test_img $size
 
+_NO_VALGRIND \
 $QEMU_IO -c "write -P 0x5a 0 512" \
          -c "sigraise $(kill -l KILL)" "$TEST_IMG" 2>&1 \
     | _filter_qemu_io
@@ -118,6 +120,7 @@ echo "== Creating an image file with lazy_refcounts=off =="
 IMGOPTS="compat=1.1,lazy_refcounts=off"
 _make_test_img $size
 
+_NO_VALGRIND \
 $QEMU_IO -c "write -P 0x5a 0 512" \
          -c "sigraise $(kill -l KILL)" "$TEST_IMG" 2>&1 \
     | _filter_qemu_io
@@ -151,6 +154,7 @@ echo "== Changing lazy_refcounts setting at runtime =="
 IMGOPTS="compat=1.1,lazy_refcounts=off"
 _make_test_img $size
 
+_NO_VALGRIND \
 $QEMU_IO -c "reopen -o lazy-refcounts=on" \
          -c "write -P 0x5a 0 512" \
          -c "sigraise $(kill -l KILL)" "$TEST_IMG" 2>&1 \
@@ -163,6 +167,7 @@ _check_test_img
 IMGOPTS="compat=1.1,lazy_refcounts=on"
 _make_test_img $size
 
+_NO_VALGRIND \
 $QEMU_IO -c "reopen -o lazy-refcounts=off" \
          -c "write -P 0x5a 0 512" \
          -c "sigraise $(kill -l KILL)" "$TEST_IMG" 2>&1 \
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/061 b/tests/qemu-iotests/061
index d7dbd7e2c7..4eac5b83bd 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/061
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/061
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ echo
 echo "=== Testing dirty version downgrade ==="
 echo
 IMGOPTS="compat=1.1,lazy_refcounts=on" _make_test_img 64M
+_NO_VALGRIND \
 $QEMU_IO -c "write -P 0x2a 0 128k" -c flush \
          -c "sigraise $(kill -l KILL)" "$TEST_IMG" 2>&1 | _filter_qemu_io
 $PYTHON qcow2.py "$TEST_IMG" dump-header
@@ -107,6 +108,7 @@ echo
 echo "=== Testing dirty lazy_refcounts=off ==="
 echo
 IMGOPTS="compat=1.1,lazy_refcounts=on" _make_test_img 64M
+_NO_VALGRIND \
 $QEMU_IO -c "write -P 0x2a 0 128k" -c flush \
          -c "sigraise $(kill -l KILL)" "$TEST_IMG" 2>&1 | _filter_qemu_io
 $PYTHON qcow2.py "$TEST_IMG" dump-header
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/137 b/tests/qemu-iotests/137
index 0c3d2a1cf0..089821da0c 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/137
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/137
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ echo
 
 # Whether lazy-refcounts was actually enabled can easily be tested: Check if
 # the dirty bit is set after a crash
+_NO_VALGRIND \
 $QEMU_IO \
     -c "reopen -o lazy-refcounts=on,overlap-check=blubb" \
     -c "write -P 0x5a 0 512" \
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
index f574d22ea5..51c57dbfe0 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ _qemu_proc_exec()
 {
     local VALGRIND_LOGFILE="$1"
     shift
-    if [ "${VALGRIND_QEMU}" == "y" ]; then
+    if [[ "${VALGRIND_QEMU}" == "y" && "${NO_VALGRIND}" != "y" ]]; then
         exec valgrind --log-file="${VALGRIND_LOGFILE}" --error-exitcode=99 "$@"
     else
         exec "$@"
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ _qemu_proc_valgrind_log()
 {
     local VALGRIND_LOGFILE="$1"
     local RETVAL="$2"
-    if [ "${VALGRIND_QEMU}" == "y" ]; then
+    if [[ "${VALGRIND_QEMU}" == "y" && "${NO_VALGRIND}" != "y" ]]; then
         if [ $RETVAL == 99 ]; then
             cat "${VALGRIND_LOGFILE}"
         fi
@@ -169,6 +169,14 @@ _qemu_vxhs_wrapper()
     return $RETVAL
 }
 
+# Valgrind bug #409141 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=409141
+# Until valgrind 3.16+ is ubiquitous, we must work around a hang in
+# valgrind when issuing sigkill. Disable valgrind for this invocation.
+_NO_VALGRIND()
+{
+    NO_VALGRIND="y" "$@"
+}
+
 export QEMU=_qemu_wrapper
 export QEMU_IMG=_qemu_img_wrapper
 export QEMU_IO=_qemu_io_wrapper