diff --git a/docs/internals/rpc.html.in b/docs/internals/rpc.html.in
index 2c0c9836db7cdc5c0fee731f5261a8623735d734..4cf1e380c534151ab8cf6e4866d91006e779a22f 100644
--- a/docs/internals/rpc.html.in
+++ b/docs/internals/rpc.html.in
@@ -163,14 +163,28 @@
 
     <ul>
       <li>type=call: the in parameters for the method call, XDR encoded</li>
+      <li>type=call-with-fds: number of file handles, then the in parameters for the method call, XDR encoded, followed by the file handles</li>
       <li>type=reply+status=ok: the return value and/or out parameters for the method call, XDR encoded</li>
       <li>type=reply+status=error: the error information for the method, a virErrorPtr XDR encoded</li>
+      <li>type=reply-with-fds+status=ok: number of file handles, the return value and/or out parameters for the method call, XDR encoded, followed by the file handles</li>
+      <li>type=reply-with-fds+status=error: number of file handles, the error information for the method, a virErrorPtr XDR encoded, followed by the file handles</li>
       <li>type=event: the parameters for the event, XDR encoded</li>
       <li>type=stream+status=ok: no payload</li>
       <li>type=stream+status=error: the error information for the method, a virErrorPtr XDR encoded</li>
       <li>type=stream+status=continue: the raw bytes of data for the stream. No XDR encoding</li>
     </ul>
 
+    <p>
+      With the two packet types that support passing file descriptors, in
+      between the header and the payload there will be a 4-byte integer
+      specifying the number of file descriptors which are being sent.
+      The actual file handles are sent after the payload has been sent.
+      Each file handle has a single dummy byte transmitted as a carrier
+      for the out of band file descriptor. While the sender should always
+      send '\0' as the dummy byte value, the receiver ought to ignore the
+      value for the sake of robustness.
+    </p>
+
     <p>
       For the exact payload information for each procedure, consult the XDR protocol
       definition for the program+version in question
@@ -339,6 +353,27 @@
           +--+-----------------------+--------+
     </pre>
 
+    <h4><a name="wireexamplescallfd">Method call with passed FD</a></h4>
+
+    <p>
+      A single method call with 2 passed file descriptors and successful
+      reply, for a program=8, version=1, procedure=3, which 10 bytes worth
+      of input args, and 4 bytes worth of return values. The number of
+      file descriptors is encoded as a 32-bit int. Each file descriptor
+      then has a 1 byte dummy payload. The overall input
+      packet length is 4 + 24 + 4 + 2 + 10 == 44, and output packet length 32.
+    </p>
+
+    <pre>
+          +--+-----------------------+---------------+-------+
+   C --&gt;  |44| 8 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .o.oOo.o. | 0 | 0 |  --&gt; S  (call)
+          +--+-----------------------+---------------+-------+
+
+          +--+-----------------------+--------+
+   C &lt;--  |32| 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .o.oOo |  &lt;-- S  (reply)
+          +--+-----------------------+--------+
+    </pre>
+
 
     <h2><a name="security">RPC security</a></h2>
 
diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 3b4b429cc930afe18d360db433837b138995c3ae..8c74f56bce819e71423620e04203dd14b790f4f5 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -1186,8 +1186,10 @@ virFileRewrite;
 
 # virnetmessage.h
 virNetMessageClear;
+virNetMessageDecodeNumFDs;
 virNetMessageEncodeHeader;
 virNetMessageEncodePayload;
+virNetMessageEncodeNumFDs;
 virNetMessageFree;
 virNetMessageNew;
 virNetMessageQueuePush;
diff --git a/src/rpc/virnetmessage.c b/src/rpc/virnetmessage.c
index a1ae9c4d7b5a32c83d1aff2695e165fe573143d7..8abf5ab5bcfea9b9377a79148018fb49e8d3f1c2 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnetmessage.c
+++ b/src/rpc/virnetmessage.c
@@ -21,11 +21,14 @@
 #include <config.h>
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 
 #include "virnetmessage.h"
 #include "memory.h"
 #include "virterror_internal.h"
 #include "logging.h"
+#include "virfile.h"
+#include "util.h"
 
 #define VIR_FROM_THIS VIR_FROM_RPC
 #define virNetError(code, ...)                                    \
@@ -51,6 +54,13 @@ virNetMessagePtr virNetMessageNew(bool tracked)
 void virNetMessageClear(virNetMessagePtr msg)
 {
     bool tracked = msg->tracked;
+    size_t i;
+
+    VIR_DEBUG("msg=%p nfds=%zu", msg, msg->nfds);
+
+    for (i = 0 ; i < msg->nfds ; i++)
+        VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(msg->fds[i]);
+    VIR_FREE(msg->fds);
     memset(msg, 0, sizeof(*msg));
     msg->tracked = tracked;
 }
@@ -58,14 +68,18 @@ void virNetMessageClear(virNetMessagePtr msg)
 
 void virNetMessageFree(virNetMessagePtr msg)
 {
+    size_t i;
     if (!msg)
         return;
 
+    VIR_DEBUG("msg=%p nfds=%zu cb=%p", msg, msg->nfds, msg->cb);
+
     if (msg->cb)
         msg->cb(msg, msg->opaque);
 
-    VIR_DEBUG("msg=%p", msg);
-
+    for (i = 0 ; i < msg->nfds ; i++)
+        VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(msg->fds[i]);
+    VIR_FREE(msg->fds);
     VIR_FREE(msg);
 }
 
@@ -239,6 +253,78 @@ cleanup:
 }
 
 
+int virNetMessageEncodeNumFDs(virNetMessagePtr msg)
+{
+    XDR xdr;
+    unsigned int numFDs = msg->nfds;
+    int ret = -1;
+
+    xdrmem_create(&xdr, msg->buffer + msg->bufferOffset,
+                  msg->bufferLength - msg->bufferOffset, XDR_ENCODE);
+
+    if (numFDs > VIR_NET_MESSAGE_NUM_FDS_MAX) {
+        virNetError(VIR_ERR_RPC,
+                    _("Too many FDs to send %d, expected %d maximum"),
+                    numFDs, VIR_NET_MESSAGE_NUM_FDS_MAX);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    if (!xdr_u_int(&xdr, &numFDs)) {
+        virNetError(VIR_ERR_RPC, "%s", _("Unable to encode number of FDs"));
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+    msg->bufferOffset += xdr_getpos(&xdr);
+
+    VIR_DEBUG("Send %zu FDs to peer", msg->nfds);
+
+    ret = 0;
+
+cleanup:
+    xdr_destroy(&xdr);
+    return ret;
+}
+
+
+int virNetMessageDecodeNumFDs(virNetMessagePtr msg)
+{
+    XDR xdr;
+    unsigned int numFDs;
+    int ret = -1;
+    size_t i;
+
+    xdrmem_create(&xdr, msg->buffer + msg->bufferOffset,
+                  msg->bufferLength - msg->bufferOffset, XDR_DECODE);
+    if (!xdr_u_int(&xdr, &numFDs)) {
+        virNetError(VIR_ERR_RPC, "%s", _("Unable to decode number of FDs"));
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+    msg->bufferOffset += xdr_getpos(&xdr);
+
+    if (numFDs > VIR_NET_MESSAGE_NUM_FDS_MAX) {
+        virNetError(VIR_ERR_RPC,
+                    _("Received too many FDs %d, expected %d maximum"),
+                    numFDs, VIR_NET_MESSAGE_NUM_FDS_MAX);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    msg->nfds = numFDs;
+    if (VIR_ALLOC_N(msg->fds, msg->nfds) < 0) {
+        virReportOOMError();
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+    for (i = 0 ; i < msg->nfds ; i++)
+        msg->fds[i] = -1;
+
+    VIR_DEBUG("Got %zu FDs from peer", msg->nfds);
+
+    ret = 0;
+
+cleanup:
+    xdr_destroy(&xdr);
+    return ret;
+}
+
+
 int virNetMessageEncodePayload(virNetMessagePtr msg,
                                xdrproc_t filter,
                                void *data)
@@ -403,3 +489,31 @@ void virNetMessageSaveError(virNetMessageErrorPtr rerr)
         rerr->level = VIR_ERR_ERROR;
     }
 }
+
+
+int virNetMessageDupFD(virNetMessagePtr msg,
+                       size_t slot)
+{
+    int fd;
+
+    if (slot >= msg->nfds) {
+        virNetError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                    _("No FD available at slot %zu"), slot);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    if ((fd = dup(msg->fds[slot])) < 0) {
+        virReportSystemError(errno,
+                             _("Unable to duplicate FD %d"),
+                             msg->fds[slot]);
+        return -1;
+    }
+    if (virSetInherit(fd, false) < 0) {
+        VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
+        virReportSystemError(errno,
+                             _("Cannot set close-on-exec %d"),
+                             fd);
+        return -1;
+    }
+    return fd;
+}
diff --git a/src/rpc/virnetmessage.h b/src/rpc/virnetmessage.h
index 307a0413ef4e90521c971fe50b00c4b9e91de557..ad634099d83f5218f3f9ea24c3adcd46b8cbb3bc 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnetmessage.h
+++ b/src/rpc/virnetmessage.h
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ struct _virNetMessage {
     virNetMessageFreeCallback cb;
     void *opaque;
 
+    size_t nfds;
+    int *fds;
+
     virNetMessagePtr next;
 };
 
@@ -78,6 +81,9 @@ int virNetMessageDecodePayload(virNetMessagePtr msg,
                                void *data)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 
+int virNetMessageEncodeNumFDs(virNetMessagePtr msg);
+int virNetMessageDecodeNumFDs(virNetMessagePtr msg);
+
 int virNetMessageEncodePayloadRaw(virNetMessagePtr msg,
                                   const char *buf,
                                   size_t len)
@@ -88,4 +94,7 @@ int virNetMessageEncodePayloadEmpty(virNetMessagePtr msg)
 void virNetMessageSaveError(virNetMessageErrorPtr rerr)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1);
 
+int virNetMessageDupFD(virNetMessagePtr msg,
+                       size_t slot);
+
 #endif /* __VIR_NET_MESSAGE_H__ */
diff --git a/src/rpc/virnetprotocol.x b/src/rpc/virnetprotocol.x
index 306fafad5044684118cc8e6d53df54f3175ee520..4520e380da237d72684ea0d8a3c33270b9cff875 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnetprotocol.x
+++ b/src/rpc/virnetprotocol.x
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_LEN_MAX = 4;
  */
 const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_STRING_MAX = 65536;
 
+/* Limit on number of File Descriptors allowed to be
+ * passed per message
+ */
+const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_NUM_FDS_MAX = 32;
+
 /*
  * RPC wire format
  *
@@ -126,6 +131,18 @@ const VIR_NET_MESSAGE_STRING_MAX = 65536;
  *          remote_error error information
  *     * status == VIR_NET_OK
  *          <empty>
+ *
+ *  - type == VIR_NET_CALL_WITH_FDS
+ *          int8 - number of FDs
+ *          XXX_args  for procedure
+ *
+ *  - type == VIR_NET_REPLY_WITH_FDS
+ *          int8 - number of FDs
+ *     * status == VIR_NET_OK
+ *          XXX_ret         for procedure
+ *     * status == VIR_NET_ERROR
+ *          remote_error    Error information
+ *
  */
 enum virNetMessageType {
     /* client -> server. args from a method call */
@@ -135,7 +152,11 @@ enum virNetMessageType {
     /* either direction. async notification */
     VIR_NET_MESSAGE = 2,
     /* either direction. stream data packet */
-    VIR_NET_STREAM = 3
+    VIR_NET_STREAM = 3,
+    /* client -> server. args from a method call, with passed FDs */
+    VIR_NET_CALL_WITH_FDS = 4,
+    /* server -> client. reply/error from a method call, with passed FDs */
+    VIR_NET_REPLY_WITH_FDS = 5
 };
 
 enum virNetMessageStatus {
diff --git a/src/virnetprotocol-structs b/src/virnetprotocol-structs
index 4d97e9c55a2b85277c9982473707fc114875cece..af4526c9011ad33655cf216b49f9aec06b5d1085 100644
--- a/src/virnetprotocol-structs
+++ b/src/virnetprotocol-structs
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ enum virNetMessageType {
         VIR_NET_REPLY = 1,
         VIR_NET_MESSAGE = 2,
         VIR_NET_STREAM = 3,
+        VIR_NET_CALL_WITH_FDS = 4,
+        VIR_NET_REPLY_WITH_FDS = 5,
 };
 enum virNetMessageStatus {
         VIR_NET_OK = 0,