diff --git a/daemon/libvirtd.c b/daemon/libvirtd.c
index 946081a486..a1f64adf7e 100644
--- a/daemon/libvirtd.c
+++ b/daemon/libvirtd.c
@@ -678,7 +678,14 @@ daemonSetupLogging(struct daemonConfig *config,
         (godaemon || !isatty(STDIN_FILENO))) {
         char *tmp;
         if (access("/run/systemd/journal/socket", W_OK) >= 0) {
-            if (virAsprintf(&tmp, "%d:journald", virLogGetDefaultPriority()) < 0)
+            virLogPriority priority = virLogGetDefaultPriority();
+
+            /* By default we don't want to log too much stuff into journald as
+             * it may employ rate limiting and thus block libvirt execution. */
+            if (priority == VIR_LOG_DEBUG)
+                priority = VIR_LOG_INFO;
+
+            if (virAsprintf(&tmp, "%d:journald", priority) < 0)
                 goto error;
             virLogParseOutputs(tmp);
             VIR_FREE(tmp);
diff --git a/daemon/libvirtd.conf b/daemon/libvirtd.conf
index c73423f0dd..2d80274edc 100644
--- a/daemon/libvirtd.conf
+++ b/daemon/libvirtd.conf
@@ -309,6 +309,10 @@
 
 # Logging level: 4 errors, 3 warnings, 2 information, 1 debug
 # basically 1 will log everything possible
+# Note: Journald may employ rate limiting of the messages logged
+# and thus lock up the libvirt daemon. To use the debug level with
+# journald you have to specify it explicitly in 'log_outputs', otherwise
+# only information level messages will be logged.
 #log_level = 3
 
 # Logging filters: