diff --git a/src/switchroot/ostree-prepare-root.c b/src/switchroot/ostree-prepare-root.c
index 2f56879d18..de3dc6a54c 100644
--- a/src/switchroot/ostree-prepare-root.c
+++ b/src/switchroot/ostree-prepare-root.c
@@ -617,6 +617,12 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
     err (EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to prepare /var bind-mount at %s", var_dir);
   if (mount (var_dir, var_dir, NULL, MS_BIND | MS_REMOUNT | MS_SILENT, NULL) < 0)
     err (EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to make writable /var bind-mount at %s", var_dir);
+  /* Bind var back to its original place in /sysroot. This is for compatibility. */
+  /* ostree does not use this anymore. We make this mount private to prevent propagation. */
+  if (mount (var_dir, "../../var", NULL, MS_BIND | MS_SILENT, NULL) < 0)
+    err (EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to bind-mount /var to ../../var");
+  if (mount (NULL, "../../var", NULL, MS_PRIVATE | MS_SILENT, NULL) < 0)
+    err (EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to make ../../var private");
 
     /* When running under systemd, /var will be handled by a 'var.mount' unit outside
      * of initramfs.