diff --git a/internal/rbd/nodeserver.go b/internal/rbd/nodeserver.go
index d5b46ad3188..591bcf93c69 100644
--- a/internal/rbd/nodeserver.go
+++ b/internal/rbd/nodeserver.go
@@ -598,7 +598,7 @@ func flattenImageBeforeMapping(
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		depth, err = volOptions.getCloneDepth()
+		depth, err = volOptions.getCloneDepth(rbdHardMaxCloneDepth)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
diff --git a/internal/rbd/rbd_util.go b/internal/rbd/rbd_util.go
index 5750a95cc0f..65cb92185fa 100644
--- a/internal/rbd/rbd_util.go
+++ b/internal/rbd/rbd_util.go
@@ -698,11 +698,13 @@ func (ri *rbdImage) trashRemoveImage(ctx context.Context) error {
 }
 
 // getCloneDepth walks the parents of the image and returns the number of
-// images in the chain.
+// images in the chain. The `max` argument to the function is used to specify a
+// limit of the depth to check. When `max` depth is reached, no further
+// traversing of the depth is required.
 //
 // This function re-uses the ioctx of the image to open all images in the
 // chain. There is no need to open new ioctx's for every image.
-func (ri *rbdImage) getCloneDepth() (uint, error) {
+func (ri *rbdImage) getCloneDepth(max uint) (uint, error) {
 	var (
 		depth  uint
 		parent librbd.ImageSpec
@@ -733,6 +735,13 @@ func (ri *rbdImage) getCloneDepth() (uint, error) {
 		// if there is a parent, count it to the depth
 		depth++
 
+		// if max (usually hard-limit) is reached, further traversing
+		// parents is not needed, some action (flattening) will be
+		// triggered regardless of deeper depth
+		if depth == max {
+			break
+		}
+
 		// open the parent image, so that the for-loop can continue
 		// with checking for the parent of the parent
 		parent = info.Image
@@ -814,7 +823,7 @@ func (ri *rbdImage) flattenRbdImage(
 
 	// skip clone depth check if request is for force flatten
 	if !forceFlatten {
-		depth, err = ri.getCloneDepth()
+		depth, err = ri.getCloneDepth(hardlimit)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}