diff --git a/include/block/block.h b/include/block/block.h
index 8b62429aa4..db1cb503ec 100644
--- a/include/block/block.h
+++ b/include/block/block.h
@@ -21,11 +21,6 @@ typedef struct BlockDriverInfo {
     /* offset at which the VM state can be saved (0 if not possible) */
     int64_t vm_state_offset;
     bool is_dirty;
-    /*
-     * True if unallocated blocks read back as zeroes. This is equivalent
-     * to the LBPRZ flag in the SCSI logical block provisioning page.
-     */
-    bool unallocated_blocks_are_zero;
     /*
      * True if this block driver only supports compressed writes
      */
@@ -431,7 +426,6 @@ int bdrv_co_pdiscard(BdrvChild *child, int64_t offset, int64_t bytes);
 int bdrv_has_zero_init_1(BlockDriverState *bs);
 int bdrv_has_zero_init(BlockDriverState *bs);
 int bdrv_has_zero_init_truncate(BlockDriverState *bs);
-bool bdrv_unallocated_blocks_are_zero(BlockDriverState *bs);
 bool bdrv_can_write_zeroes_with_unmap(BlockDriverState *bs);
 int bdrv_block_status(BlockDriverState *bs, int64_t offset,
                       int64_t bytes, int64_t *pnum, int64_t *map,
diff --git a/include/block/block_int.h b/include/block/block_int.h
index 92335f33c7..c156b22c6b 100644
--- a/include/block/block_int.h
+++ b/include/block/block_int.h
@@ -115,7 +115,18 @@ struct BlockDriver {
      */
     bool bdrv_needs_filename;
 
-    /* Set if a driver can support backing files */
+    /*
+     * Set if a driver can support backing files. This also implies the
+     * following semantics:
+     *
+     *  - Return status 0 of .bdrv_co_block_status means that corresponding
+     *    blocks are not allocated in this layer of backing-chain
+     *  - For such (unallocated) blocks, read will:
+     *    - read from backing file if there is one and big enough
+     *    - fill buffer with zeroes if there is no backing file
+     *    - space after EOF of the backing file considered as zero
+     *      (corresponding part of read-buffer must be zeroed by driver)
+     */
     bool supports_backing;
 
     /* For handling image reopen for split or non-split files */
diff --git a/block.c b/block.c
index cf5c19b1db..0283fdecbc 100644
--- a/block.c
+++ b/block.c
@@ -5305,21 +5305,6 @@ int bdrv_has_zero_init_truncate(BlockDriverState *bs)
     return 0;
 }
 
-bool bdrv_unallocated_blocks_are_zero(BlockDriverState *bs)
-{
-    BlockDriverInfo bdi;
-
-    if (bs->backing) {
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    if (bdrv_get_info(bs, &bdi) == 0) {
-        return bdi.unallocated_blocks_are_zero;
-    }
-
-    return false;
-}
-
 bool bdrv_can_write_zeroes_with_unmap(BlockDriverState *bs)
 {
     if (!(bs->open_flags & BDRV_O_UNMAP)) {
diff --git a/block/io.c b/block/io.c
index a4f9714230..484adec5a1 100644
--- a/block/io.c
+++ b/block/io.c
@@ -2385,16 +2385,16 @@ static int coroutine_fn bdrv_co_block_status(BlockDriverState *bs,
 
     if (ret & (BDRV_BLOCK_DATA | BDRV_BLOCK_ZERO)) {
         ret |= BDRV_BLOCK_ALLOCATED;
-    } else if (want_zero) {
-        if (bdrv_unallocated_blocks_are_zero(bs)) {
-            ret |= BDRV_BLOCK_ZERO;
-        } else if (bs->backing) {
+    } else if (want_zero && bs->drv->supports_backing) {
+        if (bs->backing) {
             BlockDriverState *bs2 = bs->backing->bs;
             int64_t size2 = bdrv_getlength(bs2);
 
             if (size2 >= 0 && offset >= size2) {
                 ret |= BDRV_BLOCK_ZERO;
             }
+        } else {
+            ret |= BDRV_BLOCK_ZERO;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/block/qcow2.c b/block/qcow2.c
index 2ba0b17c39..dc3c0aac2b 100644
--- a/block/qcow2.c
+++ b/block/qcow2.c
@@ -4858,7 +4858,6 @@ err:
 static int qcow2_get_info(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockDriverInfo *bdi)
 {
     BDRVQcow2State *s = bs->opaque;
-    bdi->unallocated_blocks_are_zero = true;
     bdi->cluster_size = s->cluster_size;
     bdi->vm_state_offset = qcow2_vm_state_offset(s);
     return 0;
diff --git a/block/qed.c b/block/qed.c
index b0fdb8f565..fb7833dc8b 100644
--- a/block/qed.c
+++ b/block/qed.c
@@ -1514,7 +1514,6 @@ static int bdrv_qed_get_info(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockDriverInfo *bdi)
     memset(bdi, 0, sizeof(*bdi));
     bdi->cluster_size = s->header.cluster_size;
     bdi->is_dirty = s->header.features & QED_F_NEED_CHECK;
-    bdi->unallocated_blocks_are_zero = true;
     return 0;
 }
 
