diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index ed966cf7e3..b3e663c9d5 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -14412,7 +14412,6 @@ qemuDomainBlockPullCommon(virDomainObjPtr vm,
     const char *jobname = NULL;
     virDomainDiskDefPtr disk;
     virStorageSourcePtr baseSource = NULL;
-    unsigned int baseIndex = 0;
     g_autofree char *basePath = NULL;
     g_autofree char *backingPath = NULL;
     unsigned long long speed = bandwidth;
@@ -14448,9 +14447,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockPullCommon(virDomainObjPtr vm,
         goto endjob;
 
     if (base &&
-        (virStorageFileParseChainIndex(disk->dst, base, &baseIndex) < 0 ||
-         !(baseSource = virStorageSourceChainLookup(disk->src, disk->src,
-                                                    base, baseIndex, NULL))))
+        !(baseSource = virStorageSourceChainLookup(disk->src, disk->src,
+                                                   base, disk->dst, NULL)))
         goto endjob;
 
     if (baseSource) {
@@ -15465,9 +15463,7 @@ qemuDomainBlockCommit(virDomainPtr dom,
     int ret = -1;
     virDomainDiskDefPtr disk = NULL;
     virStorageSourcePtr topSource;
-    unsigned int topIndex = 0;
     virStorageSourcePtr baseSource = NULL;
-    unsigned int baseIndex = 0;
     virStorageSourcePtr top_parent = NULL;
     bool clean_access = false;
     g_autofree char *topPath = NULL;
@@ -15540,10 +15536,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockCommit(virDomainPtr dom,
 
     if (!top || STREQ(top, disk->dst))
         topSource = disk->src;
-    else if (virStorageFileParseChainIndex(disk->dst, top, &topIndex) < 0 ||
-             !(topSource = virStorageSourceChainLookup(disk->src, NULL,
-                                                       top, topIndex,
-                                                       &top_parent)))
+    else if (!(topSource = virStorageSourceChainLookup(disk->src, NULL, top,
+                                                       disk->dst, &top_parent)))
         goto endjob;
 
     if (topSource == disk->src) {
@@ -15575,9 +15569,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockCommit(virDomainPtr dom,
 
     if (!base && (flags & VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_COMMIT_SHALLOW))
         baseSource = topSource->backingStore;
-    else if (virStorageFileParseChainIndex(disk->dst, base, &baseIndex) < 0 ||
-             !(baseSource = virStorageSourceChainLookup(disk->src, topSource,
-                                                        base, baseIndex, NULL)))
+    else if (!(baseSource = virStorageSourceChainLookup(disk->src, topSource,
+                                                        base, disk->dst, NULL)))
         goto endjob;
 
     if ((flags & VIR_DOMAIN_BLOCK_COMMIT_SHALLOW) &&
diff --git a/src/storage_file/storage_source.c b/src/storage_file/storage_source.c
index 52edb91112..4b46cc4e84 100644
--- a/src/storage_file/storage_source.c
+++ b/src/storage_file/storage_source.c
@@ -198,32 +198,59 @@ virStorageSourceGetMetadataFromFD(const char *path,
 }
 
 
-/* Given a @chain, look for the backing store @name that is a backing file
- * of @startFrom (or any member of @chain if @startFrom is NULL) and return
- * that location within the chain.  @chain must always point to the top of
- * the chain.  Pass NULL for @name and 0 for @idx to find the base of the
- * chain.  Pass nonzero @idx to find the backing source according to its
- * position in the backing chain.  If @parent is not NULL, set *@parent to
- * the preferred name of the parent (or to NULL if @name matches the start
- * of the chain).  Since the results point within @chain, they must not be
- * independently freed. Reports an error and returns NULL if @name is not
- * found.
+/**
+ * virStorageSourceChainLookup:
+ * @chain: chain top to look in
+ * @startFrom: move the starting point of @chain if non-NULL
+ * @name: name of the file to look for in @chain
+ * @diskTarget: optional disk target to validate against
+ * @parent: Filled with parent virStorageSource of the returned value if non-NULL.
+ *
+ * Looks up a storage source definition corresponding to @name in @chain and
+ * returns the corresponding virStorageSource. If @startFrom is non-NULL, the
+ * lookup starts from that virStorageSource.
+ *
+ * @name can be:
+ *  - NULL: the end of the source chain is returned
+ *  - "vda[4]": Storage source with 'id' == 4 is returned. If @diskTarget is
+ *              non-NULL it's also validated that the part before the square
+ *              bracket matches the requested target
+ *  - "/path/to/file": Literal path is matched. Symlink resolution is attempted
+ *                     if the filename doesn't string-match with the path.
  */
 virStorageSourcePtr
 virStorageSourceChainLookup(virStorageSourcePtr chain,
                             virStorageSourcePtr startFrom,
                             const char *name,
-                            unsigned int idx,
+                            const char *diskTarget,
                             virStorageSourcePtr *parent)
 {
     virStorageSourcePtr prev;
     const char *start = chain->path;
     bool nameIsFile = virStorageSourceBackinStoreStringIsFile(name);
+    g_autofree char *target = NULL;
+    unsigned int idx = 0;
+
+    if (diskTarget)
+        start = diskTarget;
 
     if (!parent)
         parent = &prev;
     *parent = NULL;
 
+    /* parse the "vda[4]" type string */
+    if (name &&
+        virStorageFileParseBackingStoreStr(name, &target, &idx) == 0) {
+        if (diskTarget &&
+            idx != 0 &&
+            STRNEQ(diskTarget, target)) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INVALID_ARG,
+                           _("requested target '%s' does not match target '%s'"),
+                           target, diskTarget);
+            return NULL;
+        }
+    }
+
     if (startFrom) {
         while (virStorageSourceIsBacking(chain) &&
                chain != startFrom->backingStore)
diff --git a/src/storage_file/storage_source.h b/src/storage_file/storage_source.h
index 58f88a3c01..6eb795b301 100644
--- a/src/storage_file/storage_source.h
+++ b/src/storage_file/storage_source.h
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ virStorageSourcePtr
 virStorageSourceChainLookup(virStorageSourcePtr chain,
                             virStorageSourcePtr startFrom,
                             const char *name,
-                            unsigned int idx,
+                            const char *diskTarget,
                             virStorageSourcePtr *parent)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1);
 
diff --git a/tests/virstoragetest.c b/tests/virstoragetest.c
index 99007dd662..c976a1c0d0 100644
--- a/tests/virstoragetest.c
+++ b/tests/virstoragetest.c
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ testStorageLookup(const void *args)
     }
 
     result = virStorageSourceChainLookup(data->chain, data->from,
-                                         data->name, idx, &actualParent);
+                                         data->name, data->target, &actualParent);
     if (!data->expResult)
         virResetLastError();