diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 14e79bd..c83bf16 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,14 +16,18 @@ clean:
 test: test-local
 	set -eu; \
 	for p in $(PACKAGES); do \
-		(cd $$p; go test $(RUN_VIA_SUDO) -v .); \
+		if $p = user && go version | grep -qv go1.18; then \
+			(cd $$p; go test $(RUN_VIA_SUDO) -v .); \
+		fi \
 	done
 
 .PHONY: tidy
 tidy:
 	set -eu; \
-		for p in $(PACKAGES); do \
-		(cd $$p; go mod tidy); \
+	for p in $(PACKAGES); do \
+		if $p = user && go version | grep -qv go1.18; then \
+			(cd $$p; go mod tidy); \
+		fi \
 	done
 
 # Test the mount module against the local mountinfo source code instead of the
@@ -42,9 +46,11 @@ lint: $(BINDIR)/golangci-lint
 	$(BINDIR)/golangci-lint version
 	set -eu; \
 	for p in $(PACKAGES); do \
-		(cd $$p; \
-		go mod download; \
-		../$(BINDIR)/golangci-lint run); \
+		if $p = user && go version | grep -qv go1.18; then \
+			(cd $$p; \
+			go mod download; \
+			../$(BINDIR)/golangci-lint run); \
+		fi \
 	done
 
 $(BINDIR)/golangci-lint: $(BINDIR)
diff --git a/user/go.mod b/user/go.mod
index 94e2d1f..d4ad72f 100644
--- a/user/go.mod
+++ b/user/go.mod
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 module github.com/moby/sys/user
 
-go 1.18
+go 1.21
 
 require golang.org/x/sys v0.1.0
diff --git a/user/userns/userns.go b/user/userns/userns.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56b24c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/user/userns/userns.go
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+// Package userns provides utilities to detect whether we are currently running
+// in a Linux user namespace.
+//
+// This code was migrated from [libcontainer/runc], which based its implementation
+// on code from [lcx/incus].
+//
+// [libcontainer/runc]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/blob/3778ae603c706494fd1e2c2faf83b406e38d687d/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux.go#L12-L49
+// [lcx/incus]: https://github.com/lxc/incus/blob/e45085dd42f826b3c8c3228e9733c0b6f998eafe/shared/util.go#L678-L700
+package userns
+
+// RunningInUserNS detects whether we are currently running in a Linux
+// user namespace and memoizes the result. It returns false on non-Linux
+// platforms.
+func RunningInUserNS() bool {
+	return inUserNS()
+}
diff --git a/user/userns/userns_linux.go b/user/userns/userns_linux.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87c1c38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/user/userns/userns_linux.go
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package userns
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"sync"
+)
+
+var inUserNS = sync.OnceValue(runningInUserNS)
+
+// runningInUserNS detects whether we are currently running in a user namespace.
+//
+// This code was migrated from [libcontainer/runc] and based on an implementation
+// from [lcx/incus].
+//
+// [libcontainer/runc]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/blob/3778ae603c706494fd1e2c2faf83b406e38d687d/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux.go#L12-L49
+// [lcx/incus]: https://github.com/lxc/incus/blob/e45085dd42f826b3c8c3228e9733c0b6f998eafe/shared/util.go#L678-L700
+func runningInUserNS() bool {
+	file, err := os.Open("/proc/self/uid_map")
+	if err != nil {
+		// This kernel-provided file only exists if user namespaces are supported.
+		return false
+	}
+	defer file.Close()
+
+	buf := bufio.NewReader(file)
+	l, _, err := buf.ReadLine()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	return uidMapInUserNS(string(l))
+}
+
+func uidMapInUserNS(uidMap string) bool {
+	if uidMap == "" {
+		// File exist but empty (the initial state when userns is created,
+		// see user_namespaces(7)).
+		return true
+	}
+
+	var a, b, c int64
+	if _, err := fmt.Sscanf(uidMap, "%d %d %d", &a, &b, &c); err != nil {
+		// Assume we are in a regular, non user namespace.
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// As per user_namespaces(7), /proc/self/uid_map of
+	// the initial user namespace shows 0 0 4294967295.
+	initNS := a == 0 && b == 0 && c == 4294967295
+	return !initNS
+}
diff --git a/user/userns/userns_linux_fuzzer.go b/user/userns/userns_linux_fuzzer.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26ba2e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/user/userns/userns_linux_fuzzer.go
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+//go:build linux && gofuzz
+
+package userns
+
+func FuzzUIDMap(uidmap []byte) int {
+	_ = uidMapInUserNS(string(uidmap))
+	return 1
+}
diff --git a/user/userns/userns_linux_test.go b/user/userns/userns_linux_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..25c4ac3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/user/userns/userns_linux_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+package userns
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestUIDMapInUserNS(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		s        string
+		expected bool
+	}{
+		{
+			s:        "         0          0 4294967295\n",
+			expected: false,
+		},
+		{
+			s:        "         0          0          1\n",
+			expected: true,
+		},
+		{
+			s:        "         0       1001          1\n         1     231072      65536\n",
+			expected: true,
+		},
+		{
+			// file exist but empty (the initial state when userns is created. see man 7 user_namespaces)
+			s:        "",
+			expected: true,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		actual := uidMapInUserNS(c.s)
+		if c.expected != actual {
+			t.Fatalf("expected %v, got %v for %q", c.expected, actual, c.s)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/user/userns/userns_unsupported.go b/user/userns/userns_unsupported.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ed8307
--- /dev/null
+++ b/user/userns/userns_unsupported.go
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+//go:build !linux
+
+package userns
+
+// inUserNS is a stub for non-Linux systems. Always returns false.
+func inUserNS() bool { return false }