diff --git a/config.yaml b/config.yaml
index 9eb67cfa..ac3829d7 100644
--- a/config.yaml
+++ b/config.yaml
@@ -126,6 +126,18 @@ options:
       Expose underlying image locations via the API when using Ceph for image
       storage. Only disable this option if you do not wish to use
       copy-on-write clones of RAW format images with Ceph in Cinder and Nova.
+  restrict-image-location-operations:
+    type: boolean
+    default: False
+    description: |
+      If this is set to True, all *_image_location operations in the Glance api
+      will be restricted to role:admin which will result in non-admin users no
+      longer being able to view the "locations" information for an image.
+      This only affects environments that have expose-image-locations set to
+      True.
+      WARNING: enabling this restriction will cause Nova to no longer be able
+      to create COW clones or snapshots for non-admin users when using the
+      RBDImageBackend in the nova-compute charm. 
   rabbit-user:
     type: string
     default: glance
diff --git a/hooks/glance_utils.py b/hooks/glance_utils.py
index 0b533c83..6be9f6fa 100644
--- a/hooks/glance_utils.py
+++ b/hooks/glance_utils.py
@@ -562,7 +562,11 @@ def update_image_location_policy():
                 log("key '{}' not found in policy file".format(policy_key),
                     level=INFO)
 
-        policy_value = 'role:admin'
+        if config('restrict-image-location-operations'):
+            policy_value = 'role:admin'
+        else:
+            policy_value = ''
+
         log("Updating Glance policy file setting policy "
             "'{}':'{}'".format(policy_key, policy_value), level=INFO)
         update_json_file(GLANCE_POLICY_FILE, {policy_key: policy_value})
diff --git a/unit_tests/test_glance_utils.py b/unit_tests/test_glance_utils.py
index f7c33bd9..6cc79cca 100644
--- a/unit_tests/test_glance_utils.py
+++ b/unit_tests/test_glance_utils.py
@@ -297,13 +297,19 @@ class TestGlanceUtils(CharmTestCase):
     def test_is_api_ready_false(self):
         self._test_is_api_ready(False)
 
+    @patch.object(utils, 'config')
     @patch.object(utils, 'json')
     @patch.object(utils, 'update_json_file')
     @patch.object(utils, 'kv')
     @patch.object(utils, 'os_release')
     def test_update_image_location_policy(self, mock_os_release, mock_kv,
-                                          mock_update_json_file, mock_json):
+                                          mock_update_json_file, mock_json,
+                                          mock_config):
         db_vals = {}
+        config = {'restrict-image-location-operations': False}
+
+        def fake_config(key):
+            return config.get(key)
 
         def fake_db_get(key):
             return db_vals.get(key)
@@ -313,6 +319,8 @@ class TestGlanceUtils(CharmTestCase):
         db_obj.get.side_effect = fake_db_get
         db_obj.set = MagicMock()
 
+        mock_config.side_effect = fake_config
+
         fake_open = mock_open()
         with patch.object(utils, 'open', fake_open, create=True):
             mock_json.loads.return_value = {'get_image_location': '',
@@ -326,6 +334,25 @@ class TestGlanceUtils(CharmTestCase):
             mock_os_release.return_value = 'kilo'
             utils.update_image_location_policy()
             self.assertTrue(mock_kv.called)
+            mock_update_json_file.assert_has_calls([
+                call('/etc/glance/policy.json',
+                     {'get_image_location': ''}),
+                call('/etc/glance/policy.json',
+                     {'set_image_location': ''}),
+                call('/etc/glance/policy.json',
+                     {'delete_image_location': ''})])
+
+            mock_update_json_file.reset_mock()
+            config['restrict-image-location-operations'] = True
+            utils.update_image_location_policy()
+            mock_update_json_file.assert_has_calls([
+                call('/etc/glance/policy.json',
+                     {'get_image_location': 'role:admin'}),
+                call('/etc/glance/policy.json',
+                     {'set_image_location': 'role:admin'}),
+                call('/etc/glance/policy.json',
+                     {'delete_image_location': 'role:admin'})])
+
             db_obj.get.assert_has_calls([call('policy_get_image_location'),
                                          call('policy_set_image_location'),
                                          call('policy_delete_image_location')])