diff --git a/src/conf/schemas/domaincommon.rng b/src/conf/schemas/domaincommon.rng
index 2acb277b76..ebb39de3ef 100644
--- a/src/conf/schemas/domaincommon.rng
+++ b/src/conf/schemas/domaincommon.rng
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
   <include href="networkcommon.rng"/>
   <include href="cputypes.rng"/>
   <include href="nwfilter_params.rng"/>
+  <include href="privatedata.rng"/>
 
   <!--
     description and title element, may be placed anywhere under the root
@@ -1698,6 +1699,7 @@
     <interleave>
       <ref name="storageSourceExtra"/>
       <ref name="diskBackingChain"/>
+      <ref name="privateDataDeviceDisk"/>
     </interleave>
   </define>
 
@@ -1773,6 +1775,7 @@
         </element>
       </element>
     </optional>
+    <ref name="privateDataStorageSource"/>
   </define>
 
   <define name="diskSource">
diff --git a/src/conf/schemas/privatedata.rng b/src/conf/schemas/privatedata.rng
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..39551939fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/conf/schemas/privatedata.rng
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<grammar xmlns="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0" datatypeLibrary="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-datatypes">
+
+  <!-- This schema is provides scaffolding for having proper schema for private
+       data elements used by libvirt internally.
+
+       Public schema must not implement any of the defines below.
+
+       To override the definitions below use:
+
+         <define name="..." combine="choice">
+    -->
+
+  <define name="privateDataStorageSource">
+    <optional>
+      <element name="privateData">
+        <notAllowed/>
+      </element>
+    </optional>
+  </define>
+
+  <define name="privateDataDeviceDisk">
+    <optional>
+      <element name="privateData">
+        <notAllowed/>
+      </element>
+    </optional>
+  </define>
+
+</grammar>