diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index ad8a79d7dc..398b0c08d1 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -1208,6 +1208,7 @@ virFileOpenAs;
 virFileOpenTty;
 virFilePrintf;
 virFileReadAll;
+virFileReadHeaderFD;
 virFileReadLimFD;
 virFileResolveAllLinks;
 virFileResolveLink;
diff --git a/src/util/virfile.c b/src/util/virfile.c
index 4882006d98..0e8d52d308 100644
--- a/src/util/virfile.c
+++ b/src/util/virfile.c
@@ -1225,6 +1225,27 @@ saferead_lim(int fd, size_t max_len, size_t *length)
     return NULL;
 }
 
+
+/* A wrapper around saferead_lim that merely stops reading at the
+ * specified maximum size.  */
+int
+virFileReadHeaderFD(int fd, int maxlen, char **buf)
+{
+    size_t len;
+    char *s;
+
+    if (maxlen <= 0) {
+        errno = EINVAL;
+        return -1;
+    }
+    s = saferead_lim(fd, maxlen, &len);
+    if (s == NULL)
+        return -1;
+    *buf = s;
+    return len;
+}
+
+
 /* A wrapper around saferead_lim that maps a failure due to
    exceeding the maximum size limitation to EOVERFLOW.  */
 int
diff --git a/src/util/virfile.h b/src/util/virfile.h
index ff84719ccf..10cf8bd9dc 100644
--- a/src/util/virfile.h
+++ b/src/util/virfile.h
@@ -122,9 +122,12 @@ int virFileNBDDeviceAssociate(const char *file,
 
 int virFileDeleteTree(const char *dir);
 
-int virFileReadLimFD(int fd, int maxlen, char **buf) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
-
-int virFileReadAll(const char *path, int maxlen, char **buf) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
+int virFileReadHeaderFD(int fd, int maxlen, char **buf)
+    ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(3);
+int virFileReadLimFD(int fd, int maxlen, char **buf)
+    ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(3);
+int virFileReadAll(const char *path, int maxlen, char **buf)
+    ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(3);
 
 int virFileWriteStr(const char *path, const char *str, mode_t mode)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
diff --git a/src/util/virstoragefile.c b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
index 589778c090..bbd5a7e234 100644
--- a/src/util/virstoragefile.c
+++ b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
@@ -793,10 +793,7 @@ virStorageFileGetMetadataInternal(const char *path,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (VIR_ALLOC_N(buf, len) < 0)
-        goto cleanup;
-
-    if ((len = read(fd, buf, len)) < 0) {
+    if ((len = virFileReadHeaderFD(fd, len, &buf)) < 0) {
         virReportSystemError(errno, _("cannot read header '%s'"), path);
         goto cleanup;
     }
@@ -939,15 +936,12 @@ virStorageFileProbeFormatFromFD(const char *path, int fd)
         return VIR_STORAGE_FILE_DIR;
     }
 
-    if (VIR_ALLOC_N(head, len) < 0)
-        return -1;
-
     if (lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_SET) == (off_t)-1) {
         virReportSystemError(errno, _("cannot set to start of '%s'"), path);
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if ((len = read(fd, head, len)) < 0) {
+    if ((len = virFileReadHeaderFD(fd, len, &head)) < 0) {
         virReportSystemError(errno, _("cannot read header '%s'"), path);
         goto cleanup;
     }