diff --git a/cmd/snap-confine/mount-support.c b/cmd/snap-confine/mount-support.c
index 6004b6391a7..bf67e8d3402 100644
--- a/cmd/snap-confine/mount-support.c
+++ b/cmd/snap-confine/mount-support.c
@@ -516,7 +516,8 @@ static bool __attribute__ ((used))
 }
 
 void sc_populate_mount_ns(struct sc_apparmor *apparmor, int snap_update_ns_fd,
-			  const char *base_snap_name, const char *snap_name)
+			  const char *base_snap_name, const char *snap_name,
+			  bool is_normal_mode)
 {
 	// Get the current working directory before we start fiddling with
 	// mounts and possibly pivot_root.  At the end of the whole process, we
@@ -529,7 +530,7 @@ void sc_populate_mount_ns(struct sc_apparmor *apparmor, int snap_update_ns_fd,
 	// Classify the current distribution, as claimed by /etc/os-release.
 	sc_distro distro = sc_classify_distro();
 	// Check which mode we should run in, normal or legacy.
-	if (sc_should_use_normal_mode(distro, base_snap_name)) {
+	if (is_normal_mode) {
 		// In normal mode we use the base snap as / and set up several bind mounts.
 		const struct sc_mount mounts[] = {
 			{"/dev"},	// because it contains devices on host OS
diff --git a/cmd/snap-confine/mount-support.h b/cmd/snap-confine/mount-support.h
index 082c304fcc8..55a97701b17 100644
--- a/cmd/snap-confine/mount-support.h
+++ b/cmd/snap-confine/mount-support.h
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ int sc_open_snap_discard_ns(void);
  * this is impossible it will chdir to SC_VOID_DIR.
  **/
 void sc_populate_mount_ns(struct sc_apparmor *apparmor, int snap_update_ns_fd,
-			  const char *base_snap_name, const char *snap_name);
+			  const char *base_snap_name, const char *snap_name,
+			  bool is_normal_mode);
 
 /**
  * Ensure that / or /snap is mounted with the SHARED option.
diff --git a/cmd/snap-confine/ns-support.c b/cmd/snap-confine/ns-support.c
index 2071a5e5450..97f52542039 100644
--- a/cmd/snap-confine/ns-support.c
+++ b/cmd/snap-confine/ns-support.c
@@ -308,7 +308,8 @@ enum sc_discard_vote {
 static int sc_inspect_and_maybe_discard_stale_ns(int mnt_fd,
 						 const char *snap_name,
 						 const char *base_snap_name,
-						 int snap_discard_ns_fd)
+						 int snap_discard_ns_fd,
+						 bool is_normal_mode)
 {
 	char base_snap_rev[PATH_MAX] = { 0 };
 	char fname[PATH_MAX] = { 0 };
@@ -328,12 +329,6 @@ static int sc_inspect_and_maybe_discard_stale_ns(int mnt_fd,
 	// Find the device that is backing the current revision of the base snap.
 	base_snap_dev = find_base_snap_device(base_snap_name, base_snap_rev);
 
-	// Check if we are running in normal mode with pivot root. Do this here
-	// because once on the inside of the transformed mount namespace we can no
-	// longer tell.
-	bool is_normal_mode =
-	    sc_should_use_normal_mode(sc_classify_distro(), base_snap_name);
-
 	// Store the PID of this process. This is done instead of calls to
 	// getppid() below because then we can reliably track the PID of the
 	// parent even if the child process is re-parented.
@@ -448,7 +443,8 @@ static void helper_capture_per_user_ns(struct sc_mount_ns *group, pid_t parent);
 
 int sc_join_preserved_ns(struct sc_mount_ns *group, struct sc_apparmor
 			 *apparmor, const char *base_snap_name,
-			 const char *snap_name, int snap_discard_ns_fd)
+			 const char *snap_name, int snap_discard_ns_fd,
+			 bool is_normal_mode)
 {
 	// Open the mount namespace file.
 	char mnt_fname[PATH_MAX] = { 0 };
@@ -490,7 +486,7 @@ int sc_join_preserved_ns(struct sc_mount_ns *group, struct sc_apparmor
 		// Inspect and perhaps discard the preserved mount namespace.
 		if (sc_inspect_and_maybe_discard_stale_ns
 		    (mnt_fd, snap_name, base_snap_name,
-		     snap_discard_ns_fd) == EAGAIN) {
+		     snap_discard_ns_fd, is_normal_mode) == EAGAIN) {
 			return ESRCH;
 		}
 		// Remember the vanilla working directory so that we may attempt to restore it later.
diff --git a/cmd/snap-confine/ns-support.h b/cmd/snap-confine/ns-support.h
index 288ad10a109..2d3957aff47 100644
--- a/cmd/snap-confine/ns-support.h
+++ b/cmd/snap-confine/ns-support.h
@@ -92,7 +92,8 @@ void sc_close_mount_ns(struct sc_mount_ns *group);
  **/
 int sc_join_preserved_ns(struct sc_mount_ns *group, struct sc_apparmor
 			 *apparmor, const char *base_snap_name,
-			 const char *snap_name, int snap_discard_ns_fd);
+			 const char *snap_name, int snap_discard_ns_fd,
+			 bool is_normal_mode);
 
 /**
  * Join a preserved, per-user, mount namespace if one exists.
diff --git a/cmd/snap-confine/snap-confine.c b/cmd/snap-confine/snap-confine.c
index 063b9143723..2573d62095f 100644
--- a/cmd/snap-confine/snap-confine.c
+++ b/cmd/snap-confine/snap-confine.c
@@ -96,13 +96,16 @@ static void sc_maybe_fixup_udev(void)
 }
 
 typedef struct sc_invocation {
+	/* Things declared by the system. */
 	const char *base_snap_name;
 	const char *security_tag;
 	const char *snap_instance;
+	/* Things derived at runtime. */
+	bool is_normal_mode;
 } sc_invocation;
 
 static void enter_classic_execution_environment(void);
-static void enter_non_classic_execution_environment(const sc_invocation * inv,
+static void enter_non_classic_execution_environment(sc_invocation * inv,
 						    struct sc_apparmor *aa,
 						    uid_t real_uid,
 						    gid_t real_gid,
@@ -201,9 +204,10 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		.snap_instance = snap_instance,
 		.base_snap_name = base_snap_name,
 		.security_tag = security_tag,
+		/* is_normal_mode is not probed yet */
 	};
 	/* For the ease of introducing inv to the if branch below. */
-	const sc_invocation *inv = &invocation;
+	sc_invocation *inv = &invocation;
 	struct sc_apparmor *aa = &apparmor;
 
 	// TODO: check for similar situation and linux capabilities.
@@ -284,7 +288,7 @@ static void enter_classic_execution_environment(void)
 	debug("skipping sandbox setup, classic confinement in use");
 }
 
-static void enter_non_classic_execution_environment(const sc_invocation * inv,
+static void enter_non_classic_execution_environment(sc_invocation * inv,
 						    struct sc_apparmor *aa,
 						    uid_t real_uid,
 						    gid_t real_gid,
@@ -326,6 +330,12 @@ static void enter_non_classic_execution_environment(const sc_invocation * inv,
 	struct sc_mount_ns *group = NULL;
 	group = sc_open_mount_ns(inv->snap_instance);
 
+	// Check if we are running in normal mode with pivot root. Do this here
+	// because once on the inside of the transformed mount namespace we can no
+	// longer tell.
+	inv->is_normal_mode = sc_should_use_normal_mode(sc_classify_distro(),
+							inv->base_snap_name);
+
 	/* Stale mount namespace discarded or no mount namespace to
 	   join. We need to construct a new mount namespace ourselves.
 	   To capture it we will need a helper process so make one. */
@@ -333,7 +343,8 @@ static void enter_non_classic_execution_environment(const sc_invocation * inv,
 	int retval = sc_join_preserved_ns(group, aa,
 					  inv->base_snap_name,
 					  inv->snap_instance,
-					  snap_discard_ns_fd);
+					  snap_discard_ns_fd,
+					  inv->is_normal_mode);
 	if (retval == ESRCH) {
 		/* Create and populate the mount namespace. This performs all
 		   of the bootstrapping mounts, pivots into the new root filesystem and
@@ -344,7 +355,7 @@ static void enter_non_classic_execution_environment(const sc_invocation * inv,
 		}
 		sc_populate_mount_ns(aa,
 				     snap_update_ns_fd, inv->base_snap_name,
-				     inv->snap_instance);
+				     inv->snap_instance, inv->is_normal_mode);
 
 		/* Preserve the mount namespace. */
 		sc_preserve_populated_mount_ns(group);