diff --git a/src/security/virt-aa-helper.c b/src/security/virt-aa-helper.c
index ec63157907a1c39829171f1f026701c95ea3c508..787f2b064398a472356ed38f07d0dcede1d40de9 100644
--- a/src/security/virt-aa-helper.c
+++ b/src/security/virt-aa-helper.c
@@ -700,7 +700,8 @@ get_definition(vahControl * ctl, const char *xmlStr)
         goto exit;
     }
 
-    ctl->def = virDomainDefParseString(ctl->caps, xmlStr, 0);
+    ctl->def = virDomainDefParseString(ctl->caps, xmlStr,
+                                       VIR_DOMAIN_XML_INACTIVE);
     if (ctl->def == NULL) {
         vah_error(ctl, 0, "could not parse XML");
         goto exit;