diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 6961cdb137..06e37c817f 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -3070,6 +3070,7 @@ virProcessGetMaxMemLock;
 virProcessGetNamespaces;
 virProcessGetPids;
 virProcessGetStartTime;
+virProcessGroupKill;
 virProcessKill;
 virProcessKillPainfully;
 virProcessKillPainfullyDelay;
diff --git a/src/util/virprocess.c b/src/util/virprocess.c
index 67dd599b3e..5f01dd1f67 100644
--- a/src/util/virprocess.c
+++ b/src/util/virprocess.c
@@ -361,6 +361,23 @@ int virProcessKill(pid_t pid, int sig)
 }
 
 
+/* send signal to a process group */
+int virProcessGroupKill(pid_t pid, int sig G_GNUC_UNUSED)
+{
+    if (pid <= 1) {
+        errno = ESRCH;
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+#ifdef WIN32
+    errno = ENOSYS;
+    return -1;
+#else
+    return killpg(pid, sig);
+#endif
+}
+
+
 /*
  * Try to kill the process and verify it has exited
  *
diff --git a/src/util/virprocess.h b/src/util/virprocess.h
index d16e8b23bb..0359d7fd9f 100644
--- a/src/util/virprocess.h
+++ b/src/util/virprocess.h
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ virProcessWait(pid_t pid, int *exitstatus, bool raw)
     G_GNUC_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT;
 
 int virProcessKill(pid_t pid, int sig);
+int virProcessGroupKill(pid_t pid, int sig);
 
 int virProcessKillPainfully(pid_t pid, bool force);
 int virProcessKillPainfullyDelay(pid_t pid,