diff --git a/block/qcow2.c b/block/qcow2.c
index 486f3e83b7..ef68772aca 100644
--- a/block/qcow2.c
+++ b/block/qcow2.c
@@ -1142,6 +1142,7 @@ static int coroutine_fn qcow2_do_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options,
     uint64_t ext_end;
     uint64_t l1_vm_state_index;
     bool update_header = false;
+    bool header_updated = false;
 
     ret = bdrv_pread(bs->file, 0, &header, sizeof(header));
     if (ret < 0) {
@@ -1480,10 +1481,9 @@ static int coroutine_fn qcow2_do_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options,
         s->autoclear_features &= QCOW2_AUTOCLEAR_MASK;
     }
 
-    if (bdrv_dirty_bitmap_next(bs, NULL)) {
-        /* It's some kind of reopen with already existing dirty bitmaps. There
-         * are no known cases where we need loading bitmaps in such situation,
-         * so it's safer don't load them.
+    if (s->dirty_bitmaps_loaded) {
+        /* It's some kind of reopen. There are no known cases where we need to
+         * reload bitmaps in such a situation, so it's safer to skip them.
          *
          * Moreover, if we have some readonly bitmaps and we are reopening for
          * rw we should reopen bitmaps correspondingly.
@@ -1491,13 +1491,13 @@ static int coroutine_fn qcow2_do_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options,
         if (bdrv_has_readonly_bitmaps(bs) &&
             !bdrv_is_read_only(bs) && !(bdrv_get_flags(bs) & BDRV_O_INACTIVE))
         {
-            bool header_updated = false;
             qcow2_reopen_bitmaps_rw_hint(bs, &header_updated, &local_err);
-            update_header = update_header && !header_updated;
         }
-    } else if (qcow2_load_dirty_bitmaps(bs, &local_err)) {
-        update_header = false;
+    } else {
+        header_updated = qcow2_load_dirty_bitmaps(bs, &local_err);
+        s->dirty_bitmaps_loaded = true;
     }
+    update_header = update_header && !header_updated;
     if (local_err != NULL) {
         error_propagate(errp, local_err);
         ret = -EINVAL;
diff --git a/block/qcow2.h b/block/qcow2.h
index d301f77cea..adf5c3950f 100644
--- a/block/qcow2.h
+++ b/block/qcow2.h
@@ -298,6 +298,7 @@ typedef struct BDRVQcow2State {
     uint32_t nb_bitmaps;
     uint64_t bitmap_directory_size;
     uint64_t bitmap_directory_offset;
+    bool dirty_bitmaps_loaded;
 
     int flags;
     int qcow_version;