diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 3a24053bb..84c735fc9 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -200,6 +200,13 @@ AC_SUBST(HAVE_SODIUM, [$have_sodium])
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES([LIBLZMA], [liblzma], [CXXFLAGS="$LIBLZMA_CFLAGS $CXXFLAGS"])
 
 
+# Look for libseccomp, required for Linux sandboxing.
+if test "$sys_name" = linux; then
+  PKG_CHECK_MODULES([LIBSECCOMP], [libseccomp],
+                    [CXXFLAGS="$LIBSECCOMP_CFLAGS $CXXFLAGS"])
+fi
+
+
 # Whether to use the Boehm garbage collector.
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(gc, AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-gc],
   [enable garbage collection in the Nix expression evaluator (requires Boehm GC) [default=no]]),
diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index 2b101beb8..66fcd9258 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ let
           [ curl bison flex perl libxml2 libxslt bzip2 xz
             dblatex (dblatex.tex or tetex) nukeReferences pkgconfig sqlite libsodium
             docbook5 docbook5_xsl
+            libseccomp
           ] ++ lib.optional (!lib.inNixShell) git;
 
         configureFlags = ''
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ let
 
         buildInputs =
           [ curl perl bzip2 xz openssl pkgconfig sqlite boehmgc ]
+          ++ lib.optional stdenv.isLinux libseccomp
           ++ lib.optional stdenv.isLinux libsodium;
 
         configureFlags = ''
diff --git a/src/libstore/build.cc b/src/libstore/build.cc
index 3236bfdb6..850422ad2 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build.cc
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include "archive.hh"
 #include "affinity.hh"
 #include "builtins.hh"
+#include "finally.hh"
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <iostream>
@@ -54,6 +55,7 @@
 #include <sys/mount.h>
 #include <sys/syscall.h>
 #include <linux/fs.h>
+#include <seccomp.h>
 #define pivot_root(new_root, put_old) (syscall(SYS_pivot_root, new_root, put_old))
 #endif
 
@@ -2251,6 +2253,42 @@ void DerivationGoal::startBuilder()
 }
 
 
+void setupSeccomp()
+{
+#if __linux__
+    scmp_filter_ctx ctx;
+
+    if (!(ctx = seccomp_init(SCMP_ACT_ALLOW)))
+        throw SysError("unable to initialize seccomp mode 2");
+
+    Finally cleanup([&]() {
+        seccomp_release(ctx);
+    });
+
+    if (seccomp_arch_add(ctx, SCMP_ARCH_X86) != 0)
+        throw SysError("unable to add 32-bit seccomp architecture");
+
+    for (int perm : { S_ISUID, S_ISGID }) {
+        // TODO: test chmod and fchmod.
+        if (seccomp_rule_add(ctx, SCMP_ACT_ERRNO(EPERM), SCMP_SYS(chmod), 1,
+                SCMP_A1(SCMP_CMP_MASKED_EQ, perm, perm)) != 0)
+            throw SysError("unable to add seccomp rule");
+
+        if (seccomp_rule_add(ctx, SCMP_ACT_ERRNO(EPERM), SCMP_SYS(fchmod), 1,
+                SCMP_A1(SCMP_CMP_MASKED_EQ, perm, perm)) != 0)
+            throw SysError("unable to add seccomp rule");
+
+        if (seccomp_rule_add(ctx, SCMP_ACT_ERRNO(EPERM), SCMP_SYS(fchmodat), 1,
+                SCMP_A2(SCMP_CMP_MASKED_EQ, perm, perm)) != 0)
+            throw SysError("unable to add seccomp rule");
+    }
+
+    if (seccomp_load(ctx) != 0)
+        throw SysError("unable to load seccomp BPF program");
+#endif
+}
+
+
 void DerivationGoal::runChild()
 {
     /* Warning: in the child we should absolutely not make any SQLite
@@ -2262,6 +2300,8 @@ void DerivationGoal::runChild()
 
         commonChildInit(builderOut);
 
+        setupSeccomp();
+
 #if __linux__
         if (useChroot) {
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/local.mk b/src/libstore/local.mk
index e78f47949..423090a62 100644
--- a/src/libstore/local.mk
+++ b/src/libstore/local.mk
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ ifeq ($(OS), SunOS)
 	libstore_LDFLAGS += -lsocket
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(OS), Linux)
+	libstore_LDFLAGS += -lseccomp
+endif
+
 libstore_CXXFLAGS = \
  -DNIX_PREFIX=\"$(prefix)\" \
  -DNIX_STORE_DIR=\"$(storedir)\" \
diff --git a/src/libutil/finally.hh b/src/libutil/finally.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7760cfe9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libutil/finally.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include <functional>
+
+/* A trivial class to run a function at the end of a scope. */
+class Finally
+{
+private:
+    std::function<void()> fun;
+
+public:
+    Finally(std::function<void()> fun) : fun(fun) { }
+    ~Finally() { fun(); }
+};