diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 3ae18b8f29..640c6b3138 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -2165,6 +2165,7 @@ virSocketAddrParseIPv4;
 virSocketAddrParseIPv6;
 virSocketAddrPrefixToNetmask;
 virSocketAddrSetIPv4Addr;
+virSocketAddrSetIPv6Addr;
 virSocketAddrSetPort;
 
 # util/virstats.h
diff --git a/src/util/virsocketaddr.c b/src/util/virsocketaddr.c
index 900aa5b783..b44d12e652 100644
--- a/src/util/virsocketaddr.c
+++ b/src/util/virsocketaddr.c
@@ -188,6 +188,21 @@ virSocketAddrSetIPv4Addr(virSocketAddrPtr addr, uint32_t val)
     addr->len = sizeof(struct sockaddr_in);
 }
 
+/*
+ * virSocketAddrSetIPv6Addr:
+ * @addr: the location to store the result
+ * @val: the 128bit integer in host byte order representing the IPv6 address
+ *
+ * Set the IPv6 address given an integer in host order. This function does not
+ * touch any previously set port.
+ */
+void virSocketAddrSetIPv6Addr(virSocketAddrPtr addr, uint32_t val[4])
+{
+    addr->data.stor.ss_family = AF_INET6;
+    memcpy(addr->data.inet6.sin6_addr.s6_addr, val, 4 * sizeof(*val));
+    addr->len = sizeof(struct sockaddr_in6);
+}
+
 /*
  * virSocketAddrEqual:
  * @s1: the location of the one IP address
diff --git a/src/util/virsocketaddr.h b/src/util/virsocketaddr.h
index 9e2680a4d2..9a6e1ecfa0 100644
--- a/src/util/virsocketaddr.h
+++ b/src/util/virsocketaddr.h
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ int virSocketAddrParseIPv6(virSocketAddrPtr addr,
                            const char *val);
 
 void virSocketAddrSetIPv4Addr(virSocketAddrPtr s, uint32_t addr);
+void virSocketAddrSetIPv6Addr(virSocketAddrPtr s, uint32_t addr[4]);
 
 char *virSocketAddrFormat(const virSocketAddr *addr);
 char *virSocketAddrFormatFull(const virSocketAddr *addr,