diff --git a/include/cutils/sockets.h b/include/cutils/sockets.h
index aa8682e..19cae0c 100644
--- a/include/cutils/sockets.h
+++ b/include/cutils/sockets.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <stdbool.h>
 
 #ifdef HAVE_WINSOCK
 #include <winsock2.h>
@@ -92,7 +93,18 @@
         const char *name, int namespaceId, int type);
 extern int socket_local_client(const char *name, int namespaceId, int type);
 extern int socket_inaddr_any_server(int port, int type);
-    
+
+/*
+ * socket_peer_is_trusted - Takes a socket which is presumed to be a
+ * connected local socket (e.g. AF_LOCAL) and returns whether the peer
+ * (the userid that owns the process on the other end of that socket)
+ * is one of the two trusted userids, root or shell.
+ *
+ * Note: This only works as advertised on the Android OS and always
+ * just returns true when called on other operating systems.
+ */
+extern bool socket_peer_is_trusted(int fd);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/libcutils/Android.mk b/libcutils/Android.mk
index 8ee4c9a..29864b2 100644
--- a/libcutils/Android.mk
+++ b/libcutils/Android.mk
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 	socket_loopback_client.c \
 	socket_loopback_server.c \
 	socket_network_client.c \
+	sockets.c \
 	config_utils.c \
 	cpu_info.c \
 	load_file.c \
diff --git a/libcutils/sockets.c b/libcutils/sockets.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..101a382
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libcutils/sockets.c
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2011 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include <cutils/log.h>
+#include <cutils/sockets.h>
+
+#ifdef HAVE_ANDROID_OS
+/* For the socket trust (credentials) check */
+#include <private/android_filesystem_config.h>
+#endif
+
+bool socket_peer_is_trusted(int fd)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_ANDROID_OS
+    struct ucred cr;
+    socklen_t len = sizeof(cr);
+    int n = getsockopt(fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_PEERCRED, &cr, &len);
+
+    if (n != 0) {
+        LOGE("could not get socket credentials: %s\n", strerror(errno));
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    if ((cr.uid != AID_ROOT) && (cr.uid != AID_SHELL)) {
+        LOGE("untrusted userid on other end of socket: userid %d\n", cr.uid);
+        return false;
+    }
+#endif
+
+    return true;
+}
diff --git a/rootdir/init.rc b/rootdir/init.rc
index 54873e0..a2c6beb 100644
--- a/rootdir/init.rc
+++ b/rootdir/init.rc
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
     export ANDROID_DATA /data
     export ASEC_MOUNTPOINT /mnt/asec
     export LOOP_MOUNTPOINT /mnt/obb
-    export BOOTCLASSPATH /system/framework/core.jar:/system/framework/apache-xml.jar:/system/framework/bouncycastle.jar:/system/framework/ext.jar:/system/framework/framework.jar:/system/framework/android.policy.jar:/system/framework/services.jar:/system/framework/core-junit.jar
+    export BOOTCLASSPATH /system/framework/core.jar:/system/framework/core-junit.jar:/system/framework/bouncycastle.jar:/system/framework/ext.jar:/system/framework/framework.jar:/system/framework/android.policy.jar:/system/framework/services.jar:/system/framework/apache-xml.jar
 
 # Backward compatibility
     symlink /system/etc /etc