diff --git a/qga/guest-agent-core.h b/qga/guest-agent-core.h
index 9d01ea9c82a..90ce6a91a0a 100644
--- a/qga/guest-agent-core.h
+++ b/qga/guest-agent-core.h
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ typedef struct GACommandState GACommandState;
 extern GAState *ga_state;
 extern QmpCommandList ga_commands;
 
-GList *ga_command_blacklist_init(GList *blacklist);
+GList *ga_command_denylist_init(GList *denylist);
 void ga_command_state_init(GAState *s, GACommandState *cs);
 void ga_command_state_add(GACommandState *cs,
                           void (*init)(void),
diff --git a/qga/commands-posix.c b/qga/commands-posix.c
index 8dd94a33144..a23f11d9d20 100644
--- a/qga/commands-posix.c
+++ b/qga/commands-posix.c
@@ -3071,8 +3071,8 @@ qmp_guest_fstrim(bool has_minimum, int64_t minimum, Error **errp)
 }
 #endif
 
-/* add unsupported commands to the blacklist */
-GList *ga_command_blacklist_init(GList *blacklist)
+/* add unsupported commands to the denylist */
+GList *ga_command_denylist_init(GList *denylist)
 {
 #if !defined(__linux__)
     {
@@ -3086,7 +3086,7 @@ GList *ga_command_blacklist_init(GList *blacklist)
         char **p = (char **)list;
 
         while (*p) {
-            blacklist = g_list_append(blacklist, g_strdup(*p++));
+            denylist = g_list_append(denylist, g_strdup(*p++));
         }
     }
 #endif
@@ -3101,18 +3101,18 @@ GList *ga_command_blacklist_init(GList *blacklist)
         char **p = (char **)list;
 
         while (*p) {
-            blacklist = g_list_append(blacklist, g_strdup(*p++));
+            denylist = g_list_append(denylist, g_strdup(*p++));
         }
     }
 #endif
 
 #if !defined(CONFIG_FSTRIM)
-    blacklist = g_list_append(blacklist, g_strdup("guest-fstrim"));
+    denylist = g_list_append(denylist, g_strdup("guest-fstrim"));
 #endif
 
-    blacklist = g_list_append(blacklist, g_strdup("guest-get-devices"));
+    denylist = g_list_append(denylist, g_strdup("guest-get-devices"));
 
-    return blacklist;
+    return denylist;
 }
 
 /* register init/cleanup routines for stateful command groups */
diff --git a/qga/commands-win32.c b/qga/commands-win32.c
index a00e6cb1655..f7a1644a423 100644
--- a/qga/commands-win32.c
+++ b/qga/commands-win32.c
@@ -2004,8 +2004,8 @@ GuestMemoryBlockInfo *qmp_guest_get_memory_block_info(Error **errp)
     return NULL;
 }
 
-/* add unsupported commands to the blacklist */
-GList *ga_command_blacklist_init(GList *blacklist)
+/* add unsupported commands to the denylist */
+GList *ga_command_denylist_init(GList *denylist)
 {
     const char *list_unsupported[] = {
         "guest-suspend-hybrid",
@@ -2016,7 +2016,7 @@ GList *ga_command_blacklist_init(GList *blacklist)
     char **p = (char **)list_unsupported;
 
     while (*p) {
-        blacklist = g_list_append(blacklist, g_strdup(*p++));
+        denylist = g_list_append(denylist, g_strdup(*p++));
     }
 
     if (!vss_init(true)) {
@@ -2027,11 +2027,11 @@ GList *ga_command_blacklist_init(GList *blacklist)
         p = (char **)list;
 
         while (*p) {
-            blacklist = g_list_append(blacklist, g_strdup(*p++));
+            denylist = g_list_append(denylist, g_strdup(*p++));
         }
     }
 
-    return blacklist;
+    return denylist;
 }
 
 /* register init/cleanup routines for stateful command groups */
diff --git a/qga/main.c b/qga/main.c
index 66177b9e93d..4dbcc62ac9d 100644
--- a/qga/main.c
+++ b/qga/main.c
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ struct GAState {
 #endif
     bool delimit_response;
     bool frozen;
-    GList *blacklist;
+    GList *denylist;
     char *state_filepath_isfrozen;
     struct {
         const char *log_filepath;
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ struct GAState *ga_state;
 QmpCommandList ga_commands;
 
 /* commands that are safe to issue while filesystems are frozen */
-static const char *ga_freeze_whitelist[] = {
+static const char *ga_freeze_allowlist[] = {
     "guest-ping",
     "guest-info",
     "guest-sync",
@@ -362,31 +362,31 @@ static gint ga_strcmp(gconstpointer str1, gconstpointer str2)
 }
 
 /* disable commands that aren't safe for fsfreeze */
-static void ga_disable_non_whitelisted(const QmpCommand *cmd, void *opaque)
+static void ga_disable_not_allowed(const QmpCommand *cmd, void *opaque)
 {
-    bool whitelisted = false;
+    bool allowed = false;
     int i = 0;
     const char *name = qmp_command_name(cmd);
 
-    while (ga_freeze_whitelist[i] != NULL) {
-        if (strcmp(name, ga_freeze_whitelist[i]) == 0) {
-            whitelisted = true;
+    while (ga_freeze_allowlist[i] != NULL) {
+        if (strcmp(name, ga_freeze_allowlist[i]) == 0) {
+            allowed = true;
         }
         i++;
     }
-    if (!whitelisted) {
+    if (!allowed) {
         g_debug("disabling command: %s", name);
         qmp_disable_command(&ga_commands, name);
     }
 }
 
-/* [re-]enable all commands, except those explicitly blacklisted by user */
-static void ga_enable_non_blacklisted(const QmpCommand *cmd, void *opaque)
+/* [re-]enable all commands, except those explicitly denylisted by user */
+static void ga_enable_non_denylisted(const QmpCommand *cmd, void *opaque)
 {
-    GList *blacklist = opaque;
+    GList *denylist = opaque;
     const char *name = qmp_command_name(cmd);
 
-    if (g_list_find_custom(blacklist, name, ga_strcmp) == NULL &&
+    if (g_list_find_custom(denylist, name, ga_strcmp) == NULL &&
         !qmp_command_is_enabled(cmd)) {
         g_debug("enabling command: %s", name);
         qmp_enable_command(&ga_commands, name);
@@ -425,8 +425,8 @@ void ga_set_frozen(GAState *s)
     if (ga_is_frozen(s)) {
         return;
     }
-    /* disable all non-whitelisted (for frozen state) commands */
-    qmp_for_each_command(&ga_commands, ga_disable_non_whitelisted, NULL);
+    /* disable all commands not allowed (for frozen state) */
+    qmp_for_each_command(&ga_commands, ga_disable_not_allowed, NULL);
     g_warning("disabling logging due to filesystem freeze");
     ga_disable_logging(s);
     s->frozen = true;
@@ -464,8 +464,8 @@ void ga_unset_frozen(GAState *s)
         s->deferred_options.pid_filepath = NULL;
     }
 
-    /* enable all disabled, non-blacklisted commands */
-    qmp_for_each_command(&ga_commands, ga_enable_non_blacklisted, s->blacklist);
+    /* enable all disabled, non-denylisted commands */
+    qmp_for_each_command(&ga_commands, ga_enable_non_denylisted, s->denylist);
     s->frozen = false;
     if (!ga_delete_file(s->state_filepath_isfrozen)) {
         g_warning("unable to delete %s, fsfreeze may not function properly",
@@ -896,9 +896,10 @@ int64_t ga_get_fd_handle(GAState *s, Error **errp)
     int64_t handle;
 
     g_assert(s->pstate_filepath);
-    /* we blacklist commands and avoid operations that potentially require
-     * writing to disk when we're in a frozen state. this includes opening
-     * new files, so we should never get here in that situation
+    /*
+     * We have commands in a denylist and avoid operations that potentially
+     * require writing to disk when we're in a frozen state. this includes
+     * opening new files, so we should never get here in that situation
      */
     g_assert(!ga_is_frozen(s));
 
@@ -950,8 +951,8 @@ struct GAConfig {
 #ifdef _WIN32
     const char *service;
 #endif
-    gchar *bliststr; /* blacklist may point to this string */
-    GList *blacklist;
+    gchar *bliststr; /* denylist may point to this string */
+    GList *denylist;
     int daemonize;
     GLogLevelFlags log_level;
     int dumpconf;
@@ -1171,7 +1172,7 @@ static void config_parse(GAConfig *config, int argc, char **argv)
                 qmp_for_each_command(&ga_commands, ga_print_cmd, NULL);
                 exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
             }
-            config->blacklist = g_list_concat(config->blacklist,
+            config->denylist = g_list_concat(config->denylist,
                                              split_list(optarg, ","));
             break;
         }
@@ -1226,7 +1227,7 @@ static void config_free(GAConfig *config)
 #ifdef CONFIG_FSFREEZE
     g_free(config->fsfreeze_hook);
 #endif
-    g_list_free_full(config->blacklist, g_free);
+    g_list_free_full(config->denylist, g_free);
     g_free(config);
 }
 
@@ -1308,7 +1309,7 @@ static GAState *initialize_agent(GAConfig *config, int socket_activation)
             s->deferred_options.log_filepath = config->log_filepath;
         }
         ga_disable_logging(s);
-        qmp_for_each_command(&ga_commands, ga_disable_non_whitelisted, NULL);
+        qmp_for_each_command(&ga_commands, ga_disable_not_allowed, NULL);
     } else {
         if (config->daemonize) {
             become_daemon(config->pid_filepath);
@@ -1332,10 +1333,10 @@ static GAState *initialize_agent(GAConfig *config, int socket_activation)
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    config->blacklist = ga_command_blacklist_init(config->blacklist);
-    if (config->blacklist) {
-        GList *l = config->blacklist;
-        s->blacklist = config->blacklist;
+    config->denylist = ga_command_denylist_init(config->denylist);
+    if (config->denylist) {
+        GList *l = config->denylist;
+        s->denylist = config->denylist;
         do {
             g_debug("disabling command: %s", (char *)l->data);
             qmp_disable_command(&ga_commands, l->data);
