diff --git a/block.c b/block.c
index 6c8ef98dfa..68b724206d 100644
--- a/block.c
+++ b/block.c
@@ -2579,7 +2579,10 @@ static BlockDriverState *bdrv_open_inherit(const char *filename,
             goto fail;
         }
         if (file_bs != NULL) {
-            file = blk_new(BLK_PERM_CONSISTENT_READ, BLK_PERM_ALL);
+            /* Not requesting BLK_PERM_CONSISTENT_READ because we're only
+             * looking at the header to guess the image format. This works even
+             * in cases where a guest would not see a consistent state. */
+            file = blk_new(0, BLK_PERM_ALL);
             blk_insert_bs(file, file_bs, &local_err);
             bdrv_unref(file_bs);
             if (local_err) {