diff --git a/lib/bb/data_smart.py b/lib/bb/data_smart.py
index 897ceeb32c7ce0acb8ed44c25e1bf2f2f28aa9dc..7663f28c5071a77c8452c1016e5ee0d969c84bec 100644
--- a/lib/bb/data_smart.py
+++ b/lib/bb/data_smart.py
@@ -952,12 +952,22 @@ class DataSmart(MutableMapping):
     def getVarFlags(self, var, expand = False, internalflags=False):
         local_var = self._findVar(var)
         flags = {}
+        flags_set = {}
 
         if local_var:
-            for i in local_var:
-                if i.startswith(("_", ":")) and not internalflags:
+            for i, val in local_var.items():
+                if i.startswith("_defaultval_flag_"):
+                    i = i[len("_defaultval_flag_"):]
+                    flags[i] = val
+                elif i.startswith(("_", ":")) and not internalflags:
                     continue
-                flags[i] = local_var[i]
+                else:
+                    flags_set[i] = val
+
+            # Flags sets take over defaults
+            flags.update(flags_set)
+
+            for i in flags:
                 if expand and i in expand:
                     flags[i] = self.expand(flags[i], var + "[" + i + "]")
         if len(flags) == 0: