diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 449696d112f5838dc1e6cc6c2135f385ebfa70a3..64a6e3d0c4a90b1aae8bf58cdeb6884c0d4f997c 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -1723,6 +1723,7 @@ virStorageFileResize;
 
 
 # util/virstring.h
+virStringArrayHasString;
 virStringFreeList;
 virStringJoin;
 virStringSplit;
diff --git a/src/util/virstring.c b/src/util/virstring.c
index 0420ca37f9d2fcc5829a06a2fa1ec270f73deee6..122ebb8f0f284627fa19d2f3fe46c2b34205a85e 100644
--- a/src/util/virstring.c
+++ b/src/util/virstring.c
@@ -166,3 +166,17 @@ void virStringFreeList(char **strings)
     }
     VIR_FREE(strings);
 }
+
+
+bool
+virStringArrayHasString(char **strings, const char *needle)
+{
+    size_t i = 0;
+
+    while (strings[i]) {
+        if (STREQ(strings[i++], needle))
+            return true;
+    }
+
+    return false;
+}
diff --git a/src/util/virstring.h b/src/util/virstring.h
index a569fe080a6262e5af1b49452646a8b2b2a72f3b..2ceadc6b84482913498cde72f659c8bbea6ea318 100644
--- a/src/util/virstring.h
+++ b/src/util/virstring.h
@@ -35,4 +35,6 @@ char *virStringJoin(const char **strings,
 
 void virStringFreeList(char **strings);
 
+bool virStringArrayHasString(char **strings, const char *needle);
+
 #endif /* __VIR_STRING_H__ */