diff --git a/server/etcdserver/apply_v2.go b/server/etcdserver/apply_v2.go
index c9e4c3e87b0..d29e857d923 100644
--- a/server/etcdserver/apply_v2.go
+++ b/server/etcdserver/apply_v2.go
@@ -121,6 +121,9 @@ func (a *applierV2store) Sync(r *RequestV2) Response {
 // applyV2Request interprets r as a call to v2store.X
 // and returns a Response interpreted from v2store.Event
 func (s *EtcdServer) applyV2Request(r *RequestV2, shouldApplyV3 membership.ShouldApplyV3) (resp Response) {
+	if r.Method != "PUT" || (!storeMemberAttributeRegexp.MatchString(r.Path) && r.Path != membership.StoreClusterVersionKey()) {
+		s.lg.Panic("detected disallowed v2 WAL for stage --v2-deprecation=write-only", zap.String("method", r.Method))
+	}
 	stringer := panicAlternativeStringer{
 		stringer:    r,
 		alternative: func() string { return fmt.Sprintf("id:%d,method:%s,path:%s", r.ID, r.Method, r.Path) },
diff --git a/server/etcdserver/server_test.go b/server/etcdserver/server_test.go
index 4ff2e6f8916..b967af0da31 100644
--- a/server/etcdserver/server_test.go
+++ b/server/etcdserver/server_test.go
@@ -147,249 +147,6 @@ func (uberApplierMock) Apply(r *pb.InternalRaftRequest, shouldApplyV3 membership
 	return &apply2.Result{}
 }
 
-func TestApplyRequest(t *testing.T) {
-	tests := []struct {
-		req pb.Request
-
-		wresp    Response
-		wactions []testutil.Action
-	}{
-		// POST ==> Create
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "POST", ID: 1},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Create",
-					Params: []any{"", false, "", true, v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// POST ==> Create, with expiration
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "POST", ID: 1, Expiration: 1337},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Create",
-					Params: []any{"", false, "", true, v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Unix(0, 1337)}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// POST ==> Create, with dir
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "POST", ID: 1, Dir: true},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Create",
-					Params: []any{"", true, "", true, v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// PUT ==> Set
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "PUT", ID: 1},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Set",
-					Params: []any{"", false, "", v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// PUT ==> Set, with dir
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "PUT", ID: 1, Dir: true},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Set",
-					Params: []any{"", true, "", v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// PUT with PrevExist=true ==> Update
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "PUT", ID: 1, PrevExist: pbutil.Boolp(true)},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Update",
-					Params: []any{"", "", v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// PUT with PrevExist=false ==> Create
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "PUT", ID: 1, PrevExist: pbutil.Boolp(false)},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Create",
-					Params: []any{"", false, "", false, v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// PUT with PrevExist=true *and* PrevIndex set ==> CompareAndSwap
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "PUT", ID: 1, PrevExist: pbutil.Boolp(true), PrevIndex: 1},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "CompareAndSwap",
-					Params: []any{"", "", uint64(1), "", v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// PUT with PrevExist=false *and* PrevIndex set ==> Create
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "PUT", ID: 1, PrevExist: pbutil.Boolp(false), PrevIndex: 1},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Create",
-					Params: []any{"", false, "", false, v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// PUT with PrevIndex set ==> CompareAndSwap
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "PUT", ID: 1, PrevIndex: 1},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "CompareAndSwap",
-					Params: []any{"", "", uint64(1), "", v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// PUT with PrevValue set ==> CompareAndSwap
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "PUT", ID: 1, PrevValue: "bar"},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "CompareAndSwap",
-					Params: []any{"", "bar", uint64(0), "", v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// PUT with PrevIndex and PrevValue set ==> CompareAndSwap
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "PUT", ID: 1, PrevIndex: 1, PrevValue: "bar"},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "CompareAndSwap",
-					Params: []any{"", "bar", uint64(1), "", v2store.TTLOptionSet{ExpireTime: time.Time{}}},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// DELETE ==> Delete
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "DELETE", ID: 1},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Delete",
-					Params: []any{"", false, false},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// DELETE with PrevIndex set ==> CompareAndDelete
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "DELETE", ID: 1, PrevIndex: 1},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "CompareAndDelete",
-					Params: []any{"", "", uint64(1)},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// DELETE with PrevValue set ==> CompareAndDelete
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "DELETE", ID: 1, PrevValue: "bar"},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "CompareAndDelete",
-					Params: []any{"", "bar", uint64(0)},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// DELETE with PrevIndex *and* PrevValue set ==> CompareAndDelete
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "DELETE", ID: 1, PrevIndex: 5, PrevValue: "bar"},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "CompareAndDelete",
-					Params: []any{"", "bar", uint64(5)},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// QGET ==> Get
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "QGET", ID: 1},
-			Response{Event: &v2store.Event{}},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "Get",
-					Params: []any{"", false, false},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// SYNC ==> DeleteExpiredKeys
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "SYNC", ID: 1},
-			Response{},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "DeleteExpiredKeys",
-					Params: []any{time.Unix(0, 0)},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "SYNC", ID: 1, Time: 12345},
-			Response{},
-			[]testutil.Action{
-				{
-					Name:   "DeleteExpiredKeys",
-					Params: []any{time.Unix(0, 12345)},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-		// Unknown method - error
-		{
-			pb.Request{Method: "BADMETHOD", ID: 1},
-			Response{Err: errors.ErrUnknownMethod},
-			[]testutil.Action{},
-		},
-	}
-
-	for i, tt := range tests {
-		st := mockstore.NewRecorder()
-		srv := &EtcdServer{
-			lgMu:    new(sync.RWMutex),
-			lg:      zaptest.NewLogger(t),
-			v2store: st,
-		}
-		srv.applyV2 = &applierV2store{store: srv.v2store, cluster: srv.cluster}
-		resp := srv.applyV2Request((*RequestV2)(&tt.req), membership.ApplyBoth)
-
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(resp, tt.wresp) {
-			t.Errorf("#%d: resp = %+v, want %+v", i, resp, tt.wresp)
-		}
-		gaction := st.Action()
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(gaction, tt.wactions) {
-			t.Errorf("#%d: action = %#v, want %#v", i, gaction, tt.wactions)
-		}
-	}
-}
-
 // TestV2SetMemberAttributes validates support of hybrid v3.5 cluster which still uses v2 request.
 // TODO: Remove in v3.7
 func TestV2SetMemberAttributes(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/tests/e2e/v2store_deprecation_test.go b/tests/e2e/v2store_deprecation_test.go
index da3b15668b0..99628cd54e3 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/v2store_deprecation_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/v2store_deprecation_test.go
@@ -58,6 +58,34 @@ func TestV2DeprecationNotYet(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 }
 
+func TestV2DeprecationWriteOnlyWAL(t *testing.T) {
+	e2e.BeforeTest(t)
+	dataDirPath := t.TempDir()
+
+	if !fileutil.Exist(e2e.BinPath.EtcdLastRelease) {
+		t.Skipf("%q does not exist", e2e.BinPath.EtcdLastRelease)
+	}
+	cfg := e2e.ConfigStandalone(*e2e.NewConfig(
+		e2e.WithVersion(e2e.LastVersion),
+		e2e.WithEnableV2(true),
+		e2e.WithDataDirPath(dataDirPath),
+	))
+	epc, err := e2e.NewEtcdProcessCluster(context.TODO(), t, e2e.WithConfig(cfg))
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	memberDataDir := epc.Procs[0].Config().DataDirPath
+
+	writeCustomV2Data(t, epc, 1)
+
+	assert.NoError(t, epc.Stop())
+
+	t.Log("Verify its infeasible to start etcd with --v2-deprecation=write-only mode")
+	proc, err := e2e.SpawnCmd([]string{e2e.BinPath.Etcd, "--v2-deprecation=write-only", "--data-dir=" + memberDataDir}, nil)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+	_, err = proc.Expect("detected disallowed v2 WAL for stage --v2-deprecation=write-only")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+}
+
 func TestV2DeprecationWriteOnlySnapshot(t *testing.T) {
 	e2e.BeforeTest(t)
 	dataDirPath := t.TempDir()