journaling makes the image only unwritable, rather than both unreadable and unwritable: $ rbd create --size 1 --image-feature layering,exclusive-lock,journaling img $ rbd snap create img@snap $ rbd snap protect img@snap $ rbd clone --image-feature layering,exclusive-lock,journaling img@snap cloneimg $ DEV=$(sudo rbd map img) rbd: sysfs write failed rbd: map failed: (6) No such device or address [6] $ DEV=$(sudo rbd map --read-only img) $ blockdev --getro $DEV 1 $ sudo rbd unmap $DEV $ DEV=$(sudo rbd map cloneimg) rbd: sysfs write failed rbd: map failed: (6) No such device or address [6] $ DEV=$(sudo rbd map --read-only cloneimg) $ blockdev --getro $DEV 1 $ sudo rbd unmap $DEV $ rbd rm --no-progress cloneimg $ rbd snap unprotect img@snap $ rbd snap rm --no-progress img@snap $ rbd rm --no-progress img