diff --git a/pkg/ccl/serverccl/BUILD.bazel b/pkg/ccl/serverccl/BUILD.bazel
index 569b67a7282f..abbe55463fb6 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/serverccl/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pkg/ccl/serverccl/BUILD.bazel
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ go_test(
         "//pkg/server",
         "//pkg/server/serverpb",
         "//pkg/sql",
+        "//pkg/sql/pgwire/pgcode",
         "//pkg/testutils/serverutils",
         "//pkg/testutils/sqlutils",
         "//pkg/testutils/testcluster",
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ go_test(
         "//pkg/util/log",
         "//pkg/util/randutil",
         "//pkg/util/timeutil",
+        "@com_github_lib_pq//:pq",
         "@com_github_stretchr_testify//require",
         "@org_golang_x_crypto//bcrypt",
     ],
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/serverccl/server_sql_test.go b/pkg/ccl/serverccl/server_sql_test.go
index 57ebe6603930..3a7f43f3f899 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/serverccl/server_sql_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/serverccl/server_sql_test.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ package serverccl
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
 	"testing"
@@ -17,11 +18,13 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/base"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachpb"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/security"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/sql/pgwire/pgcode"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils/serverutils"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils/sqlutils"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/httputil"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/leaktest"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/log"
+	"github.com/lib/pq"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
@@ -73,13 +76,11 @@ func TestTenantCannotSetClusterSetting(t *testing.T) {
 	defer db.Close()
 	_, err := db.Exec(`SET CLUSTER SETTING sql.defaults.vectorize=off`)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	/* TODO(dt): re-introduce when system-settings are prevented in tenants.
 	_, err = db.Exec(`SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.snapshot_rebalance.max_rate = '2MiB';`)
 	var pqErr *pq.Error
 	ok := errors.As(err, &pqErr)
 	require.True(t, ok, "expected err to be a *pq.Error but is of type %T. error is: %v", err)
 	require.Equal(t, pq.ErrorCode(pgcode.InsufficientPrivilege.String()), pqErr.Code, "err %v has unexpected code", err)
-	*/
 }
 
 func TestTenantUnauthenticatedAccess(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/pkg/kv/kvserver/store_snapshot.go b/pkg/kv/kvserver/store_snapshot.go
index 5860b36394f3..698981798068 100644
--- a/pkg/kv/kvserver/store_snapshot.go
+++ b/pkg/kv/kvserver/store_snapshot.go
@@ -845,7 +845,7 @@ var rebalanceSnapshotRate = settings.RegisterByteSizeSetting(
 	"the rate limit (bytes/sec) to use for rebalance and upreplication snapshots",
 	envutil.EnvOrDefaultBytes("COCKROACH_PREEMPTIVE_SNAPSHOT_RATE", 8<<20),
 	validatePositive,
-).WithPublic()
+).WithPublic().WithSystemOnly()
 
 // recoverySnapshotRate is the rate at which Raft-initiated spanshots can be
 // sent. Ideally, one would never see a Raft-initiated snapshot; we'd like all
@@ -858,7 +858,7 @@ var recoverySnapshotRate = settings.RegisterByteSizeSetting(
 	"the rate limit (bytes/sec) to use for recovery snapshots",
 	envutil.EnvOrDefaultBytes("COCKROACH_RAFT_SNAPSHOT_RATE", 8<<20),
 	validatePositive,
-).WithPublic()
+).WithPublic().WithSystemOnly()
 
 // snapshotSenderBatchSize is the size that key-value batches are allowed to
 // grow to during Range snapshots before being sent to the receiver. This limit
diff --git a/pkg/settings/bool.go b/pkg/settings/bool.go
index ce2af73756b9..31597303e203 100644
--- a/pkg/settings/bool.go
+++ b/pkg/settings/bool.go
@@ -82,6 +82,15 @@ func (b *BoolSetting) WithPublic() *BoolSetting {
 	return b
 }
 
+// WithSystemOnly marks this setting as system-only and can be chained.
+func (b *BoolSetting) WithSystemOnly() *BoolSetting {
+	b.common.systemOnly = true
+	return b
+}
+
+// Defeat the linter.
+var _ = (*BoolSetting).WithSystemOnly
+
 // RegisterBoolSetting defines a new setting with type bool.
 func RegisterBoolSetting(key, desc string, defaultValue bool) *BoolSetting {
 	setting := &BoolSetting{defaultValue: defaultValue}
diff --git a/pkg/settings/byte_size.go b/pkg/settings/byte_size.go
index 210afcb4ff83..1c88056b7ce3 100644
--- a/pkg/settings/byte_size.go
+++ b/pkg/settings/byte_size.go
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ func (b *ByteSizeSetting) WithPublic() *ByteSizeSetting {
 	return b
 }
 
+// WithSystemOnly marks this setting as system-only and can be chained.
+func (b *ByteSizeSetting) WithSystemOnly() *ByteSizeSetting {
+	b.common.systemOnly = true
+	return b
+}
+
 // RegisterByteSizeSetting defines a new setting with type bytesize and any
 // supplied validation function(s).
 func RegisterByteSizeSetting(
diff --git a/pkg/settings/duration.go b/pkg/settings/duration.go
index 38545e86bd4a..3fd1d972331a 100644
--- a/pkg/settings/duration.go
+++ b/pkg/settings/duration.go
@@ -111,6 +111,15 @@ func (d *DurationSetting) WithPublic() *DurationSetting {
 	return d
 }
 
+// WithSystemOnly marks this setting as system-only and can be chained.
+func (d *DurationSetting) WithSystemOnly() *DurationSetting {
+	d.common.systemOnly = true
+	return d
+}
+
+// Defeat the linter.
+var _ = (*DurationSetting).WithSystemOnly
+
 // RegisterDurationSetting defines a new setting with type duration.
 func RegisterDurationSetting(
 	key, desc string, defaultValue time.Duration, validateFns ...func(time.Duration) error,
diff --git a/pkg/settings/enum.go b/pkg/settings/enum.go
index 69d0a0d843e9..c63993accd23 100644
--- a/pkg/settings/enum.go
+++ b/pkg/settings/enum.go
@@ -109,6 +109,15 @@ func (e *EnumSetting) WithPublic() *EnumSetting {
 	return e
 }
 
+// WithSystemOnly indicates system-usage only and can be chained.
+func (e *EnumSetting) WithSystemOnly() *EnumSetting {
+	e.common.systemOnly = true
+	return e
+}
+
+// Defeat the linter.
+var _ = (*EnumSetting).WithSystemOnly
+
 // RegisterEnumSetting defines a new setting with type int.
 func RegisterEnumSetting(
 	key, desc string, defaultValue string, enumValues map[int64]string,
diff --git a/pkg/settings/float.go b/pkg/settings/float.go
index 90e39481bb93..b623c3026096 100644
--- a/pkg/settings/float.go
+++ b/pkg/settings/float.go
@@ -94,6 +94,15 @@ func (f *FloatSetting) setToDefault(sv *Values) {
 	}
 }
 
+// WithSystemOnly indicates system-usage only and can be chained.
+func (f *FloatSetting) WithSystemOnly() *FloatSetting {
+	f.common.systemOnly = true
+	return f
+}
+
+// Defeat the linter.
+var _ = (*FloatSetting).WithSystemOnly
+
 // RegisterFloatSetting defines a new setting with type float.
 func RegisterFloatSetting(
 	key, desc string, defaultValue float64, validateFns ...func(float64) error,
diff --git a/pkg/settings/int.go b/pkg/settings/int.go
index 1486e3d645df..b6918f1cce59 100644
--- a/pkg/settings/int.go
+++ b/pkg/settings/int.go
@@ -123,6 +123,15 @@ func (i *IntSetting) WithPublic() *IntSetting {
 	return i
 }
 
+// WithSystemOnly system-only usage and can be chained.
+func (i *IntSetting) WithSystemOnly() *IntSetting {
+	i.common.systemOnly = true
+	return i
+}
+
+// Defeat the linter.
+var _ = (*IntSetting).WithSystemOnly
+
 // PositiveInt can be passed to RegisterIntSetting
 func PositiveInt(v int64) error {
 	if v < 1 {
diff --git a/pkg/settings/masked.go b/pkg/settings/masked.go
index b67639ca74c1..cc4ebba774a8 100644
--- a/pkg/settings/masked.go
+++ b/pkg/settings/masked.go
@@ -47,3 +47,8 @@ func (s *MaskedSetting) Description() string {
 func (s *MaskedSetting) Typ() string {
 	return s.setting.Typ()
 }
+
+// SystemOnly returns the underlying setting's SystemOnly.
+func (s *MaskedSetting) SystemOnly() bool {
+	return s.setting.SystemOnly()
+}
diff --git a/pkg/settings/setting.go b/pkg/settings/setting.go
index 4e7ea499021e..3bc3a5140127 100644
--- a/pkg/settings/setting.go
+++ b/pkg/settings/setting.go
@@ -201,6 +201,9 @@ type Setting interface {
 	// Reserved settings are still accessible to users, but they don't get
 	// listed out when retrieving all settings.
 	Visibility() Visibility
+
+	// SystemOnly indicates if a setting is only applicable to the system tenant.
+	SystemOnly() bool
 }
 
 // WritableSetting is the exported interface of non-masked settings.
@@ -263,6 +266,7 @@ const (
 type common struct {
 	description string
 	visibility  Visibility
+	systemOnly  bool
 	// Each setting has a slotIdx which is used as a handle with Values.
 	slotIdx       int
 	nonReportable bool
@@ -298,6 +302,10 @@ func (i common) Visibility() Visibility {
 	return i.visibility
 }
 
+func (i common) SystemOnly() bool {
+	return i.systemOnly
+}
+
 func (i common) isReportable() bool {
 	return !i.nonReportable
 }
diff --git a/pkg/sql/set_cluster_setting.go b/pkg/sql/set_cluster_setting.go
index 5376b7a702cb..bbe34c0400cb 100644
--- a/pkg/sql/set_cluster_setting.go
+++ b/pkg/sql/set_cluster_setting.go
@@ -93,6 +93,11 @@ func (p *planner) SetClusterSetting(
 		return nil, errors.AssertionFailedf("expected writable setting, got %T", v)
 	}
 
+	if setting.SystemOnly() && !p.execCfg.Codec.ForSystemTenant() {
+		return nil, pgerror.Newf(pgcode.InsufficientPrivilege,
+			"setting %s is only setable in the system tenant", name)
+	}
+
 	var value tree.TypedExpr
 	if n.Value != nil {
 		// For DEFAULT, let the value reference be nil. That's a RESET in disguise.