diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 71b4772c43..132dde9394 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ testunit: libpodimage ## Run unittest on the built image
 
 .PHONY: localunit
 localunit: test/goecho/goecho varlink_generate
+	hack/check_root.sh make localunit
 	ginkgo \
 		-r \
 		$(TESTFLAGS) \
diff --git a/hack/check_root.sh b/hack/check_root.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..203eae9d36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/check_root.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+if ! [ $(id -u) = 0 ]; then
+   echo "Please run as root! '$@' requires root privileges."
+   exit 1
+fi