diff --git a/common/rc b/common/rc
index 4149304a..2c833409 100644
--- a/common/rc
+++ b/common/rc
@@ -2132,6 +2132,12 @@ _require_relatime()
 	_scratch_unmount
 }
 
+_require_userns()
+{
+	[ -x src/nsexec ] || _notrun "src/nsexec executable not found"
+	src/nsexec -U true 2>/dev/null || _notrun "userns not supported by this kernel"
+}
+
 _create_loop_device()
 {
 	file=$1
diff --git a/tests/generic/317 b/tests/generic/317
index e016a421..efa37c76 100755
--- a/tests/generic/317
+++ b/tests/generic/317
@@ -53,7 +53,6 @@ _supported_fs generic
 # only Linux supports user namespace
 _supported_os Linux
 
-[ -x $nsexec  ] || _notrun "$nsexec executable not found"
 [ -x $lstat64 ] || _notrun "$lstat64 executable not found"
 
 rm -f $seqres.full
@@ -62,6 +61,7 @@ _require_scratch
 _need_to_be_root
 _require_user
 _require_ugid_map
+_require_userns
 qa_user_id=`grep $qa_user /etc/passwd |awk -F: '{print $3}'`
 
 _filter_output()
diff --git a/tests/generic/318 b/tests/generic/318
index 0bfbba01..8237434e 100755
--- a/tests/generic/318
+++ b/tests/generic/318
@@ -55,8 +55,6 @@ _supported_fs generic
 # only Linux supports user namespace
 _supported_os Linux
 
-[ -x $nsexec ] || _notrun "$nsexec executable not found"
-
 rm -f $seqres.full
 
 _require_scratch
@@ -64,6 +62,7 @@ _need_to_be_root
 _acl_setup_ids
 _require_acls
 _require_ugid_map
+_require_userns
 ns_acl1=0
 ns_acl2=`expr $acl2 - $acl1`
 ns_acl3=`expr $acl3 - $acl1`