diff --git a/lib/nova_plugins/functions-libvirt b/lib/nova_plugins/functions-libvirt
index fcb4777..4639869 100644
--- a/lib/nova_plugins/functions-libvirt
+++ b/lib/nova_plugins/functions-libvirt
@@ -155,9 +155,15 @@
             echo "vnc_tls_x509_verify = 1" | sudo tee -a $QEMU_CONF
 
             sudo mkdir -p /etc/pki/libvirt-vnc
-            sudo chown libvirt-qemu:libvirt-qemu /etc/pki/libvirt-vnc
             deploy_int_CA /etc/pki/libvirt-vnc/ca-cert.pem
             deploy_int_cert /etc/pki/libvirt-vnc/server-cert.pem /etc/pki/libvirt-vnc/server-key.pem
+            # OpenSSL 1.1.0 generates the key file with permissions: 600, by
+            # default and the deploy_int* methods use 'sudo cp' to copy the
+            # files, making them owned by root:root.
+            # Change ownership of everything under /etc/pki/libvirt-vnc to
+            # libvirt-qemu:libvirt-qemu so that libvirt-qemu can read the key
+            # file.
+            sudo chown -R libvirt-qemu:libvirt-qemu /etc/pki/libvirt-vnc
         fi
     fi