diff --git a/adb/adb.c b/adb/adb.c
index 7b23894..12a36f5 100644
--- a/adb/adb.c
+++ b/adb/adb.c
@@ -859,8 +859,20 @@
     property_get("ro.kernel.qemu", value, "");
     if (strcmp(value, "1") != 0) {
         property_get("ro.secure", value, "");
-        if (strcmp(value, "1") == 0)
+        if (strcmp(value, "1") == 0) {
+            // don't run as root if ro.secure is set...
             secure = 1;
+
+            // ... except we allow running as root in userdebug builds if the 
+            // service.adb.root property has been set by the "adb root" command
+            property_get("ro.debuggable", value, "");
+            if (strcmp(value, "1") == 0) {
+                property_get("service.adb.root", value, "");
+                if (strcmp(value, "1") == 0) {
+                    secure = 0;
+                }
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     /* don't listen on port 5037 if we are running in secure mode */
diff --git a/adb/commandline.c b/adb/commandline.c
index be596ce..7410dce 100644
--- a/adb/commandline.c
+++ b/adb/commandline.c
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@
         "  adb get-serialno             - prints: <serial-number>\n"
         "  adb status-window            - continuously print device status for a specified device\n"
         "  adb remount                  - remounts the /system partition on the device read-write\n"
+        "  adb root                     - restarts adb with root permissions\n"
         "\n"
         "networking:\n"
         "  adb ppp <tty> [parameters]   - Run PPP over USB.\n"
@@ -914,6 +915,17 @@
         return 1;
     }
 
+    if(!strcmp(argv[0], "root")) {
+        int fd = adb_connect("root:");
+        if(fd >= 0) {
+            read_and_dump(fd);
+            adb_close(fd);
+            return 0;
+        }
+        fprintf(stderr,"error: %s\n", adb_error());
+        return 1;
+    }
+
     if(!strcmp(argv[0], "bugreport")) {
         if (argc != 1) {
             return 1;
diff --git a/adb/services.c b/adb/services.c
index e686949..1de55e6 100644
--- a/adb/services.c
+++ b/adb/services.c
@@ -103,6 +103,34 @@
     adb_close(fd);
 }
 
+void restart_root_service(int fd, void *cookie)
+{
+    char buf[100];
+    char value[PROPERTY_VALUE_MAX];
+
+    if (getuid() == 0) {
+        snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "adbd is already running as root\n");
+        writex(fd, buf, strlen(buf));
+        adb_close(fd);
+    } else {
+        property_get("ro.debuggable", value, "");
+        if (strcmp(value, "1") != 0) {
+            snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "adbd cannot run as root in production builds\n");
+            writex(fd, buf, strlen(buf));
+            return;
+        }
+
+        property_set("service.adb.root", "1");
+        snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "restarting adbd as root\n");
+        writex(fd, buf, strlen(buf));
+        adb_close(fd);
+
+        // quit, and init will restart us as root
+        sleep(1);
+        exit(1);
+    }
+}
+
 #endif
 
 #if 0
@@ -289,6 +317,8 @@
         ret = create_service_thread(file_sync_service, NULL);
     } else if(!strncmp(name, "remount:", 8)) {
         ret = create_service_thread(remount_service, NULL);
+    } else if(!strncmp(name, "root:", 5)) {
+        ret = create_service_thread(restart_root_service, NULL);
 #endif
 #if 0
     } else if(!strncmp(name, "echo:", 5)){