diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 74d1bdc639fc60972c8a6898b0e6c5c910211f55..03437132c970392af0d8297490650027c5ce7b8e 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -15861,7 +15861,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockCopyCommon(virDomainObjPtr vm,
                           unsigned long long bandwidth,
                           unsigned int granularity,
                           unsigned long long buf_size,
-                          unsigned int flags)
+                          unsigned int flags,
+                          bool keepParentLabel)
 {
     virQEMUDriverPtr driver = conn->privateData;
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv;
@@ -15992,7 +15993,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockCopyCommon(virDomainObjPtr vm,
     if (mirror->format > 0)
         format = virStorageFileFormatTypeToString(mirror->format);
 
-    if (virStorageSourceInitChainElement(mirror, disk->src, false) < 0)
+    if (virStorageSourceInitChainElement(mirror, disk->src,
+                                         keepParentLabel) < 0)
         goto endjob;
 
     if (qemuDomainPrepareDiskChainElement(driver, vm, mirror,
@@ -16104,7 +16106,7 @@ qemuDomainBlockRebase(virDomainPtr dom, const char *path, const char *base,
     flags &= (VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_SHALLOW |
               VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_REBASE_REUSE_EXT);
     ret = qemuDomainBlockCopyCommon(vm, dom->conn, path, dest,
-                                    bandwidth, 0, 0, flags);
+                                    bandwidth, 0, 0, flags, true);
     vm = NULL;
     dest = NULL;
 
@@ -16177,8 +16179,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockCopy(virDomainPtr dom, const char *disk, const char *destxml,
                                              VIR_DOMAIN_XML_INACTIVE)))
         goto cleanup;
 
-    ret = qemuDomainBlockCopyCommon(vm, dom->conn, disk, dest,
-                                    bandwidth, granularity, buf_size, flags);
+    ret = qemuDomainBlockCopyCommon(vm, dom->conn, disk, dest, bandwidth,
+                                    granularity, buf_size, flags, false);
     vm = NULL;
 
  cleanup:
@@ -16353,7 +16355,7 @@ qemuDomainBlockCommit(virDomainPtr dom,
             goto endjob;
         if (virStorageSourceInitChainElement(mirror,
                                              disk->src,
-                                             false) < 0)
+                                             true) < 0)
             goto endjob;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index b782984b98ceee914c49f47e4cffa4c7d285a3a3..1f22bd012a86fb2bdecc0f193c17d6497b4ce374 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -1064,7 +1064,7 @@ qemuProcessHandleBlockJob(qemuMonitorPtr mon ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                         copy = virStorageSourceCopy(disk->mirror, false);
                         if (virStorageSourceInitChainElement(copy,
                                                              persistDisk->src,
-                                                             false) < 0) {
+                                                             true) < 0) {
                             VIR_WARN("Unable to update persistent definition "
                                      "on vm %s after block job",
                                      vm->def->name);
diff --git a/src/util/virstoragefile.c b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
index aa97f75c0ccc34ba9a4fd2f46c444fef62543422..1c437a9b0a380fa7461ad1a06907f2262dd9eb32 100644
--- a/src/util/virstoragefile.c
+++ b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
@@ -1900,28 +1900,26 @@ virStorageSourceCopy(const virStorageSource *src,
  * virStorageSourceInitChainElement:
  * @newelem: New backing chain element disk source
  * @old: Existing top level disk source
- * @force: Force-copy the information
+ * @transferLabels: Transfer security lables.
  *
  * Transfers relevant information from the existing disk source to the new
  * backing chain element if they weren't supplied so that labelling info
  * and possibly other stuff is correct.
  *
- * If @force is true, user-supplied information for the new backing store
- * element is overwritten from @old instead of keeping it.
+ * If @transferLabels is true, security labels from the existing disk are copied
+ * to the new disk. Otherwise the default domain imagelabel label will be used.
  *
  * Returns 0 on success, -1 on error.
  */
 int
 virStorageSourceInitChainElement(virStorageSourcePtr newelem,
                                  virStorageSourcePtr old,
-                                 bool force)
+                                 bool transferLabels)
 {
     int ret = -1;
 
-    if (force)
-        virStorageSourceSeclabelsClear(newelem);
-
-    if (!newelem->seclabels &&
+    if (transferLabels &&
+        !newelem->seclabels &&
         virStorageSourceSeclabelsCopy(newelem, old) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
@@ -2367,7 +2365,7 @@ virStorageSourceNewFromBacking(virStorageSourcePtr parent)
         }
 
         /* copy parent's labelling and other top level stuff */
-        if (virStorageSourceInitChainElement(ret, parent, false) < 0)
+        if (virStorageSourceInitChainElement(ret, parent, true) < 0)
             goto error;
     }