diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 14a9b08f2d..8408081290 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -2303,6 +2303,7 @@ virSkipSpacesBackwards;
 virStrcpy;
 virStrdup;
 virStringArrayHasString;
+virStringBufferIsPrintable;
 virStringEncodeBase64;
 virStringFreeList;
 virStringFreeListCount;
diff --git a/src/util/virstring.c b/src/util/virstring.c
index 2702cecf20..0177a95210 100644
--- a/src/util/virstring.c
+++ b/src/util/virstring.c
@@ -1069,6 +1069,25 @@ virStringIsPrintable(const char *str)
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * virBufferIsPrintable:
+ *
+ * Returns true if @buf of @buflen contains only printable characters
+ */
+bool
+virStringBufferIsPrintable(const uint8_t *buf,
+                           size_t buflen)
+{
+    size_t i;
+
+    for (i = 0; i < buflen; i++)
+        if (!c_isprint(buf[i]))
+            return false;
+
+    return true;
+}
+
+
 /**
  * virStringEncodeBase64:
  * @buf: buffer of bytes to encode
diff --git a/src/util/virstring.h b/src/util/virstring.h
index 6bc2726a17..040771e832 100644
--- a/src/util/virstring.h
+++ b/src/util/virstring.h
@@ -276,6 +276,7 @@ bool virStringHasControlChars(const char *str);
 void virStringStripControlChars(char *str);
 
 bool virStringIsPrintable(const char *str);
+bool virStringBufferIsPrintable(const uint8_t *buf, size_t buflen);
 
 char *virStringEncodeBase64(const uint8_t *buf, size_t buflen);