diff --git a/qga/commands-common.h b/qga/commands-common.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..90785ed4bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qga/commands-common.h
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+/*
+ * QEMU Guest Agent common/cross-platform common commands
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2020 Red Hat, Inc.
+ *
+ * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2 or later.
+ * See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+ */
+#ifndef QGA_COMMANDS_COMMON_H
+#define QGA_COMMANDS_COMMON_H
+
+#include "qga-qapi-types.h"
+
+typedef struct GuestFileHandle GuestFileHandle;
+
+GuestFileHandle *guest_file_handle_find(int64_t id, Error **errp);
+
+GuestFileRead *guest_file_read_unsafe(GuestFileHandle *gfh,
+                                      int64_t count, Error **errp);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/qga/commands-posix.c b/qga/commands-posix.c
index cc69b82704..a52af0315f 100644
--- a/qga/commands-posix.c
+++ b/qga/commands-posix.c
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include "qemu/sockets.h"
 #include "qemu/base64.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
+#include "commands-common.h"
 
 #ifdef HAVE_UTMPX
 #include <utmpx.h>
@@ -237,12 +238,12 @@ typedef enum {
     RW_STATE_WRITING,
 } RwState;
 
-typedef struct GuestFileHandle {
+struct GuestFileHandle {
     uint64_t id;
     FILE *fh;
     RwState state;
     QTAILQ_ENTRY(GuestFileHandle) next;
-} GuestFileHandle;
+};
 
 static struct {
     QTAILQ_HEAD(, GuestFileHandle) filehandles;
@@ -268,7 +269,7 @@ static int64_t guest_file_handle_add(FILE *fh, Error **errp)
     return handle;
 }
 
-static GuestFileHandle *guest_file_handle_find(int64_t id, Error **errp)
+GuestFileHandle *guest_file_handle_find(int64_t id, Error **errp)
 {
     GuestFileHandle *gfh;
 
@@ -460,29 +461,14 @@ void qmp_guest_file_close(int64_t handle, Error **errp)
     g_free(gfh);
 }
 
-struct GuestFileRead *qmp_guest_file_read(int64_t handle, bool has_count,
-                                          int64_t count, Error **errp)
+GuestFileRead *guest_file_read_unsafe(GuestFileHandle *gfh,
+                                      int64_t count, Error **errp)
 {
-    GuestFileHandle *gfh = guest_file_handle_find(handle, errp);
     GuestFileRead *read_data = NULL;
     guchar *buf;
-    FILE *fh;
+    FILE *fh = gfh->fh;
     size_t read_count;
 
-    if (!gfh) {
-        return NULL;
-    }
-
-    if (!has_count) {
-        count = QGA_READ_COUNT_DEFAULT;
-    } else if (count < 0 || count >= UINT32_MAX) {
-        error_setg(errp, "value '%" PRId64 "' is invalid for argument count",
-                   count);
-        return NULL;
-    }
-
-    fh = gfh->fh;
-
     /* explicitly flush when switching from writing to reading */
     if (gfh->state == RW_STATE_WRITING) {
         int ret = fflush(fh);
@@ -497,7 +483,6 @@ struct GuestFileRead *qmp_guest_file_read(int64_t handle, bool has_count,
     read_count = fread(buf, 1, count, fh);
     if (ferror(fh)) {
         error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "failed to read file");
-        slog("guest-file-read failed, handle: %" PRId64, handle);
     } else {
         buf[read_count] = 0;
         read_data = g_new0(GuestFileRead, 1);
diff --git a/qga/commands-win32.c b/qga/commands-win32.c
index b49920e201..9717a8d52d 100644
--- a/qga/commands-win32.c
+++ b/qga/commands-win32.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 #include "qemu/queue.h"
 #include "qemu/host-utils.h"
 #include "qemu/base64.h"
+#include "commands-common.h"
 
 #ifndef SHTDN_REASON_FLAG_PLANNED
 #define SHTDN_REASON_FLAG_PLANNED 0x80000000
@@ -50,11 +51,11 @@
 
 #define INVALID_SET_FILE_POINTER ((DWORD)-1)
 
-typedef struct GuestFileHandle {
+struct GuestFileHandle {
     int64_t id;
     HANDLE fh;
     QTAILQ_ENTRY(GuestFileHandle) next;
-} GuestFileHandle;
+};
 
 static struct {
     QTAILQ_HEAD(, GuestFileHandle) filehandles;
@@ -126,7 +127,7 @@ static int64_t guest_file_handle_add(HANDLE fh, Error **errp)
     return handle;
 }
 
-static GuestFileHandle *guest_file_handle_find(int64_t id, Error **errp)
+GuestFileHandle *guest_file_handle_find(int64_t id, Error **errp)
 {
     GuestFileHandle *gfh;
     QTAILQ_FOREACH(gfh, &guest_file_state.filehandles, next) {
@@ -321,39 +322,19 @@ void qmp_guest_shutdown(bool has_mode, const char *mode, Error **errp)
     }
 }
 
-GuestFileRead *qmp_guest_file_read(int64_t handle, bool has_count,
-                                   int64_t count, Error **errp)
+GuestFileRead *guest_file_read_unsafe(GuestFileHandle *gfh,
+                                      int64_t count, Error **errp)
 {
     GuestFileRead *read_data = NULL;
     guchar *buf;
-    HANDLE fh;
+    HANDLE fh = gfh->fh;
     bool is_ok;
     DWORD read_count;
-    GuestFileHandle *gfh = guest_file_handle_find(handle, errp);
 
-    if (!gfh) {
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    if (!has_count) {
-        count = QGA_READ_COUNT_DEFAULT;
-    } else if (count < 0 || count >= UINT32_MAX) {
-        error_setg(errp, "value '%" PRId64
-                   "' is invalid for argument count", count);
-        return NULL;
-    }
-
-    fh = gfh->fh;
-    buf = g_try_malloc0(count + 1);
-    if (!buf) {
-        error_setg(errp,
-                   "failed to allocate sufficient memory "
-                   "to complete the requested service");
-        return NULL;
-    }
+    buf = g_malloc0(count + 1);
     is_ok = ReadFile(fh, buf, count, &read_count, NULL);
     if (!is_ok) {
         error_setg_win32(errp, GetLastError(), "failed to read file");
-        slog("guest-file-read failed, handle %" PRId64, handle);
     } else {
         buf[read_count] = 0;
         read_data = g_new0(GuestFileRead, 1);
diff --git a/qga/commands.c b/qga/commands.c
index 4471a9f08d..efc8b90281 100644
--- a/qga/commands.c
+++ b/qga/commands.c
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "qemu/units.h"
 #include "guest-agent-core.h"
 #include "qga-qapi-commands.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
@@ -18,11 +19,18 @@
 #include "qemu/base64.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
 #include "qemu/atomic.h"
+#include "commands-common.h"
 
 /* Maximum captured guest-exec out_data/err_data - 16MB */
 #define GUEST_EXEC_MAX_OUTPUT (16*1024*1024)
 /* Allocation and I/O buffer for reading guest-exec out_data/err_data - 4KB */
 #define GUEST_EXEC_IO_SIZE (4*1024)
+/*
+ * Maximum file size to read - 48MB
+ *
+ * (48MB + Base64 3:4 overhead = JSON parser 64 MB limit)
+ */
+#define GUEST_FILE_READ_COUNT_MAX (48 * MiB)
 
 /* Note: in some situations, like with the fsfreeze, logging may be
  * temporarilly disabled. if it is necessary that a command be able
@@ -547,3 +555,28 @@ error:
     g_free(info);
     return NULL;
 }
+
+GuestFileRead *qmp_guest_file_read(int64_t handle, bool has_count,
+                                   int64_t count, Error **errp)
+{
+    GuestFileHandle *gfh = guest_file_handle_find(handle, errp);
+    GuestFileRead *read_data;
+
+    if (!gfh) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    if (!has_count) {
+        count = QGA_READ_COUNT_DEFAULT;
+    } else if (count < 0 || count > GUEST_FILE_READ_COUNT_MAX) {
+        error_setg(errp, "value '%" PRId64 "' is invalid for argument count",
+                   count);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    read_data = guest_file_read_unsafe(gfh, count, errp);
+    if (!read_data) {
+        slog("guest-file-write failed, handle: %" PRId64, handle);
+    }
+
+    return read_data;
+}
diff --git a/qga/qapi-schema.json b/qga/qapi-schema.json
index f6fcb59f34..4be9aad48e 100644
--- a/qga/qapi-schema.json
+++ b/qga/qapi-schema.json
@@ -266,11 +266,13 @@
 ##
 # @guest-file-read:
 #
-# Read from an open file in the guest. Data will be base64-encoded
+# Read from an open file in the guest. Data will be base64-encoded.
+# As this command is just for limited, ad-hoc debugging, such as log
+# file access, the number of bytes to read is limited to 48 MB.
 #
 # @handle: filehandle returned by guest-file-open
 #
-# @count: maximum number of bytes to read (default is 4KB)
+# @count: maximum number of bytes to read (default is 4KB, maximum is 48MB)
 #
 # Returns: @GuestFileRead on success.
 #