diff --git a/src/lxc/attach.c b/src/lxc/attach.c
index 87f14398f5..8387bbfe17 100644
--- a/src/lxc/attach.c
+++ b/src/lxc/attach.c
@@ -749,6 +749,8 @@ static int attach_child_main(struct attach_clone_payload *payload)
 	int fd, lsm_fd, ret;
 	uid_t new_uid;
 	gid_t new_gid;
+	uid_t ns_root_uid = 0;
+	gid_t ns_root_gid = 0;
 	lxc_attach_options_t* options = payload->options;
 	struct lxc_proc_context_info* init_ctx = payload->init_ctx;
 	bool needs_lsm = (options->namespaces & CLONE_NEWNS) &&
@@ -836,25 +838,23 @@ static int attach_child_main(struct attach_clone_payload *payload)
 			goto on_error;
 	}
 
-	/* Set {u,g}id. */
-	new_uid = 0;
-	new_gid = 0;
+	if (options->namespaces & CLONE_NEWUSER) {
+		/* Check whether nsuid 0 has a mapping. */
+		ns_root_uid = get_ns_uid(0);
 
-	/* Ignore errors, we will fall back to root in that case (/proc was not
-	 * mounted etc.).
-	 */
-	if (options->namespaces & CLONE_NEWUSER)
-		lxc_attach_get_init_uidgid(&new_uid, &new_gid);
+		/* Check whether nsgid 0 has a mapping. */
+		ns_root_gid = get_ns_gid(0);
 
-	if (options->uid != (uid_t)-1)
-		new_uid = options->uid;
+		/* If there's no mapping for nsuid 0 try to retrieve the nsuid
+		 * init was started with.
+		 */
+		if (ns_root_uid == LXC_INVALID_UID)
+			lxc_attach_get_init_uidgid(&ns_root_uid, &ns_root_gid);
 
-	if (options->gid != (gid_t)-1)
-		new_gid = options->gid;
+		if (ns_root_uid == LXC_INVALID_UID)
+			goto on_error;
 
-	/* Try to set the {u,g}id combination. */
-	if (new_uid != 0 || new_gid != 0 || options->namespaces & CLONE_NEWUSER) {
-		ret = lxc_switch_uid_gid(new_uid, new_gid);
+		ret = lxc_switch_uid_gid(ns_root_uid, ns_root_gid);
 		if (ret < 0)
 			goto on_error;
 	}
@@ -863,6 +863,17 @@ static int attach_child_main(struct attach_clone_payload *payload)
 	if (ret < 0 && errno != EPERM)
 		goto on_error;
 
+	/* Set {u,g}id. */
+	if (options->uid != LXC_INVALID_UID)
+		new_uid = options->uid;
+	else
+		new_uid = ns_root_uid;
+
+	if (options->gid != LXC_INVALID_GID)
+		new_gid = options->gid;
+	else
+		new_gid = ns_root_gid;
+
 	if ((init_ctx->container && init_ctx->container->lxc_conf &&
 	     init_ctx->container->lxc_conf->no_new_privs) ||
 	    (options->attach_flags & LXC_ATTACH_NO_NEW_PRIVS)) {
@@ -952,6 +963,17 @@ static int attach_child_main(struct attach_clone_payload *payload)
 		TRACE("Prepared terminal file descriptor %d", payload->terminal_slave_fd);
 	}
 
+	/* Avoid unnecessary syscalls. */
+	if (new_uid == ns_root_uid)
+		new_uid = LXC_INVALID_UID;
+
+	if (new_gid == ns_root_gid)
+		new_gid = LXC_INVALID_GID;
+
+	ret = lxc_switch_uid_gid(new_uid, new_gid);
+	if (ret < 0)
+		goto on_error;
+
 	/* We're done, so we can now do whatever the user intended us to do. */
 	_exit(payload->exec_function(payload->exec_payload));