diff --git a/man/common-variables.xml b/man/common-variables.xml
index 2f478cb453..0e220b3f9e 100644
--- a/man/common-variables.xml
+++ b/man/common-variables.xml
@@ -90,7 +90,10 @@
       <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>less</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> and
       <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>more</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, until one is found. If
       no pager implementation is discovered no pager is invoked. Setting this environment variable to an empty string
-      or the value <literal>cat</literal> is equivalent to passing <option>--no-pager</option>.</para></listitem>
+      or the value <literal>cat</literal> is equivalent to passing <option>--no-pager</option>.</para>
+
+      <para>Note: if <varname>$SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE</varname> is not set, <varname>$SYSTEMD_PAGER</varname>
+      (as well as <varname>$PAGER</varname>) will be silently ignored.</para></listitem>
     </varlistentry>
 
     <varlistentry id='less'>