diff --git a/tests/libtest.sh b/tests/libtest.sh
index 04622df9..c12ffb95 100644
--- a/tests/libtest.sh
+++ b/tests/libtest.sh
@@ -309,6 +309,14 @@ run_sh () {
     ${CMD_PREFIX} flatpak run --command=bash ${ARGS-} org.test.Hello -c "$*"
 }
 
+skip_without_user_xattrs () {
+    touch ${TEST_DATA_DIR}/test-xattrs
+    if ! setfattr -n user.testvalue -v somevalue ${TEST_DATA_DIR}/test-xattrs; then
+        echo "1..0 # SKIP this test requires xattr support"
+        exit 0
+    fi
+}
+
 skip_without_bwrap () {
     if [ -z "${FLATPAK_BWRAP:-}" ]; then
         # running installed-tests: assume we know what we're doing