I was debugging the case in gdb to check what exactly fail qemuBlockRemoveImageMetadata (the one that emits the warning) -> qemuSecurityMoveImageMetadata -> virSecurityManagerMoveImageMetadata (where the former function was missing) The first hit is the stacked security, which has an implementation: Thread 18 "libvirtd" hit Breakpoint 3, virSecurityManagerMoveImageMetadata (mgr=0x7f8c1800fe10, pid=-1, src=src@entry=0x7f8c4c044440, dst=dst@entry=0x0) at ../../../src/security/security_manager.c:467 warning: Source file is more recent than executable. 467 { (gdb) p mgr->drv->domainMoveImageMetadata $1 = (virSecurityDomainMoveImageMetadata) 0x7f8c638a47e0 This essentially calls itself in the lower stack (=apparmor) and there it is 0x0 as expected. Thread 18 "libvirtd" hit Breakpoint 3, virSecurityManagerMoveImageMetadata (mgr=0x7f8c18047f10, pid=pid@entry=-1, src=src@entry=0x7f8c4c044440, dst=dst@entry=0x0) at ../../../src/security/security_manager.c:467 467 { (gdb) n 468 if (mgr->drv->domainMoveImageMetadata) { (gdb) p mgr->drv->domainMoveImageMetadata $2 = (virSecurityDomainMoveImageMetadata) 0x0 Then there is DAC (gdb) p mgr->drv->domainMoveImageMetadata $3 = (virSecurityDomainMoveImageMetadata) 0x7f8c638a5570 Calling into: virSecurityDACMoveImageMetadata (mgr=0x7f8c1805cf10, pid=-1, src=0x7f8c4c044440, dst=0x0) at ../../../src/security/security_dac.c:1122 warning: Source file is more recent than executable. This is more promising as we see in the errors "subprocess fail" and DAC uses those. (gdb) bt #0 virSecurityDACMoveImageMetadata (mgr=0x7f8c1805cf10, pid=-1, src=0x7f8c4c044440, dst=0x0) at ../../../src/security/security_dac.c:1122 #1 0x00007f8c638a8ecf in virSecurityManagerMoveImageMetadata (mgr=0x7f8c1805cf10, pid=pid@entry=-1, src=src@entry=0x7f8c4c044440, dst=dst@entry=0x0) at ../../../src/security/security_manager.c:471 #2 0x00007f8c638a4820 in virSecurityStackMoveImageMetadata (mgr=, pid=-1, src=0x7f8c4c044440, dst=0x0) at ../../../src/security/security_stack.c:705 #3 0x00007f8c638a8ecf in virSecurityManagerMoveImageMetadata (mgr=0x7f8c1800fe10, pid=-1, src=src@entry=0x7f8c4c044440, dst=dst@entry=0x0) at ../../../src/security/security_manager.c:471 #4 0x00007f8c45938708 in qemuSecurityMoveImageMetadata (driver=driver@entry=0x7f8c18052c30, vm=vm@entry=0x7f8c180c4110, src=src@entry=0x7f8c4c044440, dst=dst@entry=0x0) at ../../../src/qemu/qemu_security.c:182 #5 0x00007f8c458630d0 in qemuBlockRemoveImageMetadata (driver=driver@entry=0x7f8c18052c30, vm=vm@entry=0x7f8c180c4110, diskTarget=0x7f8c4c043cd0 "vda", src=) at ../../../src/qemu/qemu_block.c:2628 #6 0x00007f8c458ca13b in qemuProcessStop (driver=driver@entry=0x7f8c18052c30, vm=vm@entry=0x7f8c180c4110, reason=reason@entry=VIR_DOMAIN_SHUTOFF_SHUTDOWN, asyncJob=asyncJob@entry=QEMU_ASYNC_JOB_NONE, flags=flags@entry=0) at ../../../src/qemu/qemu_process.c:7568 #7 0x00007f8c45935fd9 in processMonitorEOFEvent (vm=0x7f8c180c4110, driver=0x7f8c18052c30) at ../../../src/qemu/qemu_driver.c:4792 #8 qemuProcessEventHandler (data=0x562f8f783aa0, opaque=0x7f8c18052c30) at ../../../src/qemu/qemu_driver.c:4898 #9 0x00007f8c637f9faf in virThreadPoolWorker (opaque=opaque@entry=0x562f8f780e70) at ../../../src/util/virthreadpool.c:163 #10 0x00007f8c637f931c in virThreadHelper (data=) at ../../../src/util/virthread.c:196 #11 0x00007f8c634bd609 in start_thread (arg=) at pthread_create.c:477 #12 0x00007f8c633e4103 in clone () at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/x86_64/clone.S:95