diff --git a/lib/vdsm/taskset.py b/lib/vdsm/taskset.py
index f595e18bf..7e2efb8d4 100644
--- a/lib/vdsm/taskset.py
+++ b/lib/vdsm/taskset.py
@@ -91,10 +91,13 @@ def cpulist_parse(cpu_range):
     or the output of the 'taskset' and 'lscpu' tools.
     """
     cpus = []
+    excluded_cpus = []
     for item in cpu_range.split(','):
         if '-' in item:
             begin, end = item.split('-', 1)
             cpus.extend(range(int(begin), int(end) + 1))
+        elif item.startswith("^"):
+            excluded_cpus.append(int(item[1:]))
         else:
             cpus.append(int(item))
-    return frozenset(cpus)
+    return frozenset(cpus) - frozenset(excluded_cpus)
diff --git a/tests/virt/domaindescriptor_test.py b/tests/virt/domaindescriptor_test.py
index afe7e5016..952e979ba 100644
--- a/tests/virt/domaindescriptor_test.py
+++ b/tests/virt/domaindescriptor_test.py
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@
     <cputune>
         <vcpupin vcpu="0" cpuset="1,2,5-7" />
         <vcpupin vcpu="1" cpuset="1,6,10" />
+        <vcpupin vcpu="2" cpuset="1-4,^3,6" />
     </cputune>
 </domain>
 """
@@ -261,9 +262,10 @@ def test_get_number_of_cpus(self, xml_data, expected):
     def test_pinned_cpus(self):
         desc = DomainDescriptor(PINNED_CPUS)
         pinning = desc.pinned_cpus
-        assert len(pinning) == 2
+        assert len(pinning) == 3
         assert pinning[0] == frozenset([1, 2, 5, 6, 7])
         assert pinning[1] == frozenset([1, 6, 10])
+        assert pinning[2] == frozenset([1, 2, 4, 6])
 
     def test_no_pinned_cpus(self):
         desc = DomainDescriptor(NO_PINNED_CPUS)