diff --git a/src/libvirt-domain.c b/src/libvirt-domain.c
index 3e144b6f88..b903ebe5bc 100644
--- a/src/libvirt-domain.c
+++ b/src/libvirt-domain.c
@@ -1077,9 +1077,7 @@ virDomainRestoreFlags(virConnectPtr conn, const char *from, const char *dxml,
  * previously by virDomainSave() or virDomainSaveFlags().
  *
  * No security-sensitive data will be included unless @flags contains
- * VIR_DOMAIN_XML_SECURE; this flag is rejected on read-only
- * connections.  For this API, @flags should not contain either
- * VIR_DOMAIN_XML_INACTIVE or VIR_DOMAIN_XML_UPDATE_CPU.
+ * VIR_DOMAIN_XML_SECURE.
  *
  * Returns a 0 terminated UTF-8 encoded XML instance, or NULL in case of
  * error.  The caller must free() the returned value.
@@ -1095,12 +1093,7 @@ virDomainSaveImageGetXMLDesc(virConnectPtr conn, const char *file,
 
     virCheckConnectReturn(conn, NULL);
     virCheckNonNullArgGoto(file, error);
-
-    if ((conn->flags & VIR_CONNECT_RO) && (flags & VIR_DOMAIN_XML_SECURE)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_DENIED, "%s",
-                       _("virDomainSaveImageGetXMLDesc with secure flag"));
-        goto error;
-    }
+    virCheckReadOnlyGoto(conn->flags, error);
 
     if (conn->driver->domainSaveImageGetXMLDesc) {
         char *ret;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 31c93a8c19..5653dfc5c0 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -6690,7 +6690,7 @@ qemuDomainSaveImageGetXMLDesc(virConnectPtr conn, const char *path,
     if (fd < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if (virDomainSaveImageGetXMLDescEnsureACL(conn, def, flags) < 0)
+    if (virDomainSaveImageGetXMLDescEnsureACL(conn, def) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     ret = qemuDomainDefFormatXML(driver, def, flags);
diff --git a/src/remote/remote_protocol.x b/src/remote/remote_protocol.x
index 8bda792ab0..b6831588d6 100644
--- a/src/remote/remote_protocol.x
+++ b/src/remote/remote_protocol.x
@@ -4928,8 +4928,7 @@ enum remote_procedure {
     /**
      * @generate: both
      * @priority: high
-     * @acl: domain:read
-     * @acl: domain:read_secure:VIR_DOMAIN_XML_SECURE
+     * @acl: domain:write
      */
     REMOTE_PROC_DOMAIN_SAVE_IMAGE_GET_XML_DESC = 235,