keyboard arrows keys doesn't working (evdev problem)

Which VNC client did you use and how did you invoke kvm?

Had this same issue running a qemu with kqemu:
# sudo qemu -hda /dev/sda -m 800
On the grub menu, I coudn't use arrow keys and got the same message. Off course, using a keyboard layout abnt2. After that I typed:
# setxkbmap -layout us -model us
 and restarted qemu command. Worked fine!
I am running Intrepid:

dmesg

I invoke kvm with: kvm -hda /home/bruno/kvm/example.img -net user -net nic -localtime, I'm not using vnc to see my kvm console, I'm using SDL.

I'm sorry by my answer delay, I don't see the last question about how I invoke kvm.

I'm testing a bootable USB key with

    udisksctl unmount -b /dev/sdb1
    sudo setfacl -m user:$USER:rw /dev/sdb
    kvm -drive format=raw,file=/dev/sdb -m 2048

and I get the GRUB menu in the KVM window just fine, but arrow keys do not work (and I have to use Ctrl+N/Ctrl+P to select the GRUB menu entry).

Once Linux boots (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS server livecd, with a text mode ubiquity) arrow keys continue not working.

FWIW I get one message on the console about

    unknown keycodes `(unnamed)', please report to <email address hidden>

during kvm startup.

I've also booted the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS desktop livecd and ran xev to take a look. Up arrow sends some key event that's intercepted by the (virtual) OS, so all I see is a FocusOut event. Down arrow sends no event. Left arrow sends Alt_R, right arrow sends Pause. (Right Alt sends KP_Enter. Fun!)

It looks like there exists a workaround: if I explicitly run kvm -k en-us, things work fine. The manual page claims en-us should already be default?

My host OS is Ubuntu 17.10, and I'm using a Wayland session.