diff --git a/ansible/roles/nova/templates/qemu.conf.j2 b/ansible/roles/nova/templates/qemu.conf.j2
index 16bd9d4d9a..0f75244e4b 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/nova/templates/qemu.conf.j2
+++ b/ansible/roles/nova/templates/qemu.conf.j2
@@ -1 +1,12 @@
 stdio_handler = "file"
+
+{% if kolla_base_distro == "ubuntu" %}
+# TODO: this workaround need to be fixed in Pike
+# Ubuntu cloud archive released libvirt-bin version 2.5.0 which runs vms as
+# libvirt-qemu user. This locks access to nova created files for vms which
+# have permissions 722 for nova user. We need to force qemu to use this user
+# to be able to access vm files.
+# see https://bugs.launchpad.net/kolla-ansible/+bug/1668654
+user = "nova"
+group = "nova"
+{% endif %}