diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index fb7635499f..c52c3ec385 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -2182,6 +2182,7 @@ virMediatedDeviceModelTypeToString;
 virMediatedDeviceNew;
 virMediatedDeviceSetUsedBy;
 virMediatedDeviceTypeFree;
+virMediatedDeviceTypeReadAttrs;
 
 
 
diff --git a/src/util/virmdev.c b/src/util/virmdev.c
index db679b8a6d..1249335067 100644
--- a/src/util/virmdev.c
+++ b/src/util/virmdev.c
@@ -496,3 +496,37 @@ virMediatedDeviceTypeFree(virMediatedDeviceTypePtr type)
     VIR_FREE(type->device_api);
     VIR_FREE(type);
 }
+
+
+int
+virMediatedDeviceTypeReadAttrs(const char *sysfspath,
+                               virMediatedDeviceTypePtr *type)
+{
+    int ret = -1;
+    virMediatedDeviceTypePtr tmp = NULL;
+
+#define MDEV_GET_SYSFS_ATTR(attr, dst, cb) \
+    do { \
+        if (cb(dst, "%s/%s", sysfspath, attr) < 0) \
+            goto cleanup; \
+    } while (0)
+
+    if (VIR_ALLOC(tmp) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    if (VIR_STRDUP(tmp->id, last_component(sysfspath)) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    MDEV_GET_SYSFS_ATTR("name", &tmp->name, virFileReadValueString);
+    MDEV_GET_SYSFS_ATTR("device_api", &tmp->device_api, virFileReadValueString);
+    MDEV_GET_SYSFS_ATTR("available_instances", &tmp->available_instances,
+                        virFileReadValueUint);
+
+#undef MDEV_GET_SYSFS_ATTR
+
+    VIR_STEAL_PTR(*type, tmp);
+    ret = 0;
+ cleanup:
+    virMediatedDeviceTypeFree(tmp);
+    return ret;
+}
diff --git a/src/util/virmdev.h b/src/util/virmdev.h
index 320610ab97..01ab02e751 100644
--- a/src/util/virmdev.h
+++ b/src/util/virmdev.h
@@ -129,4 +129,9 @@ virMediatedDeviceListMarkDevices(virMediatedDeviceListPtr dst,
 
 void
 virMediatedDeviceTypeFree(virMediatedDeviceTypePtr type);
+
+int
+virMediatedDeviceTypeReadAttrs(const char *sysfspath,
+                               virMediatedDeviceTypePtr *type);
+
 #endif /* __VIR_MDEV_H__ */