diff --git a/proxmox-sys/src/fs/mod.rs b/proxmox-sys/src/fs/mod.rs
index 84a3fa85..5fffec94 100644
--- a/proxmox-sys/src/fs/mod.rs
+++ b/proxmox-sys/src/fs/mod.rs
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ pub use read_dir::*;
 mod fsx_attr;
 pub use fsx_attr::*;
 
+pub mod xattr;
+
 /// Change ownership of an open file handle
 pub fn fchown(fd: RawFd, owner: Option<Uid>, group: Option<Gid>) -> Result<(), Error> {
     // According to the POSIX specification, -1 is used to indicate that owner and group
diff --git a/proxmox-sys/src/fs/xattr.rs b/proxmox-sys/src/fs/xattr.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..47637356
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proxmox-sys/src/fs/xattr.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,230 @@
+//! Wrapper functions for the libc xattr calls
+
+use std::ffi::CStr;
+use std::os::unix::io::RawFd;
+
+use nix::errno::Errno;
+
+use proxmox_io::vec;
+use proxmox_lang::c_str;
+
+/// `"security.capability"` as a CStr to avoid typos.
+///
+/// This cannot be `const` until `const_cstr_unchecked` is stable.
+#[inline]
+pub fn xattr_name_fcaps() -> &'static CStr {
+    c_str!("security.capability")
+}
+
+/// `"system.posix_acl_access"` as a CStr to avoid typos.
+///
+/// This cannot be `const` until `const_cstr_unchecked` is stable.
+#[inline]
+pub fn xattr_acl_access() -> &'static CStr {
+    c_str!("system.posix_acl_access")
+}
+
+/// `"system.posix_acl_default"` as a CStr to avoid typos.
+///
+/// This cannot be `const` until `const_cstr_unchecked` is stable.
+#[inline]
+pub fn xattr_acl_default() -> &'static CStr {
+    c_str!("system.posix_acl_default")
+}
+
+/// Result of `flistxattr`, allows iterating over the attributes as a list of `&CStr`s.
+///
+/// Listing xattrs produces a list separated by zeroes, inherently making them available as `&CStr`
+/// already, so we make use of this fact and reflect this in the interface.
+pub struct ListXAttr {
+    data: Vec<u8>,
+}
+
+impl ListXAttr {
+    fn new(data: Vec<u8>) -> Self {
+        Self { data }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<'a> IntoIterator for &'a ListXAttr {
+    type Item = &'a CStr;
+    type IntoIter = ListXAttrIter<'a>;
+
+    fn into_iter(self) -> Self::IntoIter {
+        ListXAttrIter {
+            data: &self.data,
+            at: 0,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Iterator over the extended attribute entries in a `ListXAttr`.
+pub struct ListXAttrIter<'a> {
+    data: &'a [u8],
+    at: usize,
+}
+
+impl<'a> Iterator for ListXAttrIter<'a> {
+    type Item = &'a CStr;
+
+    fn next(&mut self) -> Option<&'a CStr> {
+        let data = &self.data[self.at..];
+        let next = data.iter().position(|b| *b == 0)? + 1;
+        self.at += next;
+        Some(unsafe { CStr::from_bytes_with_nul_unchecked(&data[..next]) })
+    }
+}
+
+/// Return a list of extended attributes accessible as an iterator over items of type `&CStr`.
+pub fn flistxattr(fd: RawFd) -> Result<ListXAttr, nix::errno::Errno> {
+    // Initial buffer size for the attribute list, if content does not fit
+    // it gets dynamically increased until big enough.
+    let mut size = 256;
+    let mut buffer = vec::undefined(size);
+    let mut bytes = unsafe {
+        libc::flistxattr(fd, buffer.as_mut_ptr() as *mut libc::c_char, buffer.len())
+    };
+    while bytes < 0 {
+        let err = Errno::last();
+        match err {
+            Errno::ERANGE => {
+                // Buffer was not big enough to fit the list, retry with double the size
+                size = size.checked_mul(2).ok_or(Errno::ENOMEM)?;
+            },
+            _ => return Err(err),
+        }
+        // Retry to read the list with new buffer
+        buffer.resize(size, 0);
+        bytes = unsafe {
+            libc::flistxattr(fd, buffer.as_mut_ptr() as *mut libc::c_char, buffer.len())
+        };
+    }
+    buffer.truncate(bytes as usize);
+
+    Ok(ListXAttr::new(buffer))
+}
+
+/// Get an extended attribute by name.
+///
+/// Extended attributes may not contain zeroes, which we enforce in the API by using a `&CStr`
+/// type.
+pub fn fgetxattr(fd: RawFd, name: &CStr) -> Result<Vec<u8>, nix::errno::Errno> {
+    let mut size = 256;
+    let mut buffer = vec::undefined(size);
+    let mut bytes = unsafe {
+        libc::fgetxattr(fd, name.as_ptr(), buffer.as_mut_ptr() as *mut core::ffi::c_void, buffer.len())
+    };
+    while bytes < 0 {
+        let err = Errno::last();
+        match err {
+            Errno::ERANGE => {
+                // Buffer was not big enough to fit the value, retry with double the size
+                size = size.checked_mul(2).ok_or(Errno::ENOMEM)?;
+            },
+            _ => return Err(err),
+        }
+        buffer.resize(size, 0);
+        bytes = unsafe {
+            libc::fgetxattr(fd, name.as_ptr() as *const libc::c_char, buffer.as_mut_ptr() as *mut core::ffi::c_void, buffer.len())
+        };
+    }
+    buffer.resize(bytes as usize, 0);
+
+    Ok(buffer)
+}
+
+/// Set an extended attribute on a file descriptor.
+pub fn fsetxattr(fd: RawFd, name: &CStr, data: &[u8]) -> Result<(), nix::errno::Errno> {
+    let flags = 0 as libc::c_int;
+    let result = unsafe {
+        libc::fsetxattr(fd, name.as_ptr(), data.as_ptr() as *const libc::c_void, data.len(), flags)
+    };
+    if result < 0 {
+        return Err(Errno::last());
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+pub fn fsetxattr_fcaps(fd: RawFd, fcaps: &[u8]) -> Result<(), nix::errno::Errno> {
+    // TODO casync checks and removes capabilities if they are set
+    fsetxattr(fd, xattr_name_fcaps(), fcaps)
+}
+
+pub fn is_security_capability(name: &CStr) -> bool {
+    name.to_bytes() == xattr_name_fcaps().to_bytes()
+}
+
+pub fn is_acl(name: &CStr) -> bool {
+    name.to_bytes() == xattr_acl_access().to_bytes()
+    || name.to_bytes() == xattr_acl_default().to_bytes()
+}
+
+/// Check if the passed name buffer starts with a valid xattr namespace prefix
+/// and is within the length limit of 255 bytes
+pub fn is_valid_xattr_name(c_name: &CStr) -> bool {
+    let name = c_name.to_bytes();
+    if name.is_empty() || name.len() > 255 {
+        return false;
+    }
+    if name.starts_with(b"user.") || name.starts_with(b"trusted.") {
+        return true;
+    }
+    // samba saves windows ACLs there
+    if name == b"security.NTACL" {
+        return true;
+    }
+    is_security_capability(c_name)
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    use std::ffi::CString;
+    use std::fs::OpenOptions;
+    use std::os::unix::io::AsRawFd;
+
+    use nix::errno::Errno;
+
+    use proxmox_lang::c_str;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_fsetxattr_fgetxattr() {
+        let path = "./test-xattrs.txt";
+        let file = OpenOptions::new()
+            .write(true)
+            .create(true)
+            .open(&path)
+            .unwrap();
+
+        let fd = file.as_raw_fd();
+
+        assert!(fsetxattr(fd, c_str!("user.attribute0"), b"value0").is_ok());
+        assert!(fsetxattr(fd, c_str!("user.empty"), b"").is_ok());
+
+        if nix::unistd::Uid::current() != nix::unistd::ROOT {
+            assert_eq!(fsetxattr(fd, c_str!("trusted.attribute0"), b"value0"), Err(Errno::EPERM));
+        }
+
+        let v0 = fgetxattr(fd, c_str!("user.attribute0")).unwrap();
+        let v1 = fgetxattr(fd, c_str!("user.empty")).unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(v0, b"value0".as_ref());
+        assert_eq!(v1, b"".as_ref());
+        assert_eq!(fgetxattr(fd, c_str!("user.attribute1")), Err(Errno::ENODATA));
+
+        std::fs::remove_file(&path).unwrap();
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_is_valid_xattr_name() {
+        let too_long = CString::new(vec![b'a'; 265]).unwrap();
+
+        assert!(!is_valid_xattr_name(&too_long));
+        assert!(!is_valid_xattr_name(c_str!("system.attr")));
+        assert!(is_valid_xattr_name(c_str!("user.attr")));
+        assert!(is_valid_xattr_name(c_str!("trusted.attr")));
+        assert!(is_valid_xattr_name(super::xattr_name_fcaps()));
+    }
+}