diff --git a/ChangeLog.rst b/ChangeLog.rst
index 3d5c05b..65f57d7 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.rst
+++ b/ChangeLog.rst
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ Unreleased Changes
 * The description of the FUSE_CAP_READDIRPLUS_AUTO flag has been
   improved.
 
+* Allow open `/dev/fuse` file descriptors to be passed via mountpoints of the
+  special format `/dev/fd/%u`. This allows mounting to be handled by the parent
+  so the FUSE filesystem process can run fully unprivileged.
+
 libfuse 3.2.6 (2018-08-31)
 ==========================
 
diff --git a/lib/fuse_lowlevel.c b/lib/fuse_lowlevel.c
index e6e3d8d..844e797 100644
--- a/lib/fuse_lowlevel.c
+++ b/lib/fuse_lowlevel.c
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include "fuse_kernel.h"
 #include "fuse_opt.h"
 #include "fuse_misc.h"
+#include "mount_util.h"
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
@@ -2891,6 +2892,24 @@ int fuse_session_mount(struct fuse_session *se, const char *mountpoint)
 			close(fd);
 	} while (fd >= 0 && fd <= 2);
 
+	/*
+	 * To allow FUSE daemons to run without privileges, the caller may open
+	 * /dev/fuse before launching the file system and pass on the file
+	 * descriptor by specifying /dev/fd/N as the mount point. Note that the
+	 * parent process takes care of performing the mount in this case.
+	 */
+	fd = fuse_mnt_parse_fuse_fd(mountpoint);
+	if (fd != -1) {
+		if (fcntl(fd, F_GETFD) == -1) {
+			fprintf(stderr,
+				"fuse: Invalid file descriptor /dev/fd/%u\n",
+				fd);
+			return -1;
+		}
+		se->fd = fd;
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	/* Open channel */
 	fd = fuse_kern_mount(mountpoint, se->mo);
 	if (fd == -1)
@@ -2916,9 +2935,11 @@ int fuse_session_fd(struct fuse_session *se)
 
 void fuse_session_unmount(struct fuse_session *se)
 {
-	fuse_kern_unmount(se->mountpoint, se->fd);
-	free(se->mountpoint);
-	se->mountpoint = NULL;
+	if (se->mountpoint != NULL) {
+		fuse_kern_unmount(se->mountpoint, se->fd);
+		free(se->mountpoint);
+		se->mountpoint = NULL;
+	}
 }
 
 #ifdef linux
diff --git a/lib/helper.c b/lib/helper.c
index 07cef81..e1de362 100644
--- a/lib/helper.c
+++ b/lib/helper.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include "fuse_misc.h"
 #include "fuse_opt.h"
 #include "fuse_lowlevel.h"
+#include "mount_util.h"
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
@@ -147,7 +148,11 @@ static int fuse_helper_opt_proc(void *data, const char *arg, int key,
 	switch (key) {
 	case FUSE_OPT_KEY_NONOPT:
 		if (!opts->mountpoint) {
-			char mountpoint[PATH_MAX];
+			if (fuse_mnt_parse_fuse_fd(arg) != -1) {
+				return fuse_opt_add_opt(&opts->mountpoint, arg);
+			}
+
+			char mountpoint[PATH_MAX] = "";
 			if (realpath(arg, mountpoint) == NULL) {
 				fprintf(stderr,
 					"fuse: bad mount point `%s': %s\n",
diff --git a/lib/mount_util.c b/lib/mount_util.c
index 56ed85a..95e038f 100644
--- a/lib/mount_util.c
+++ b/lib/mount_util.c
@@ -352,3 +352,16 @@ int fuse_mnt_check_fuseblk(void)
 	fclose(f);
 	return 0;
 }
+
+int fuse_mnt_parse_fuse_fd(const char *mountpoint)
+{
+	int fd = -1;
+	int len = 0;
+
+	if (sscanf(mountpoint, "/dev/fd/%u%n", &fd, &len) == 1 &&
+	    len == strlen(mountpoint)) {
+		return fd;
+	}
+
+	return -1;
+}
diff --git a/lib/mount_util.h b/lib/mount_util.h
index 55c6c5e..0ef0fbe 100644
--- a/lib/mount_util.h
+++ b/lib/mount_util.h
@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ int fuse_mnt_umount(const char *progname, const char *abs_mnt,
 		    const char *rel_mnt, int lazy);
 char *fuse_mnt_resolve_path(const char *progname, const char *orig);
 int fuse_mnt_check_fuseblk(void);
+int fuse_mnt_parse_fuse_fd(const char *mountpoint);