diff --git a/src/lxc/attach.c b/src/lxc/attach.c
index aac38ffe1f..bfb2abf014 100644
--- a/src/lxc/attach.c
+++ b/src/lxc/attach.c
@@ -220,17 +220,7 @@ static void lxc_proc_put_context_info(struct lxc_proc_context_info *ctx)
 
 static int lxc_attach_to_ns(pid_t pid, int which)
 {
-	/* according to <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.containers.lxc.devel/1429>,
-	 * the file for user namespaces in /proc/$pid/ns will be called
-	 * 'user' once the kernel supports it
-	 */
-	static char *ns[] = { "user", "mnt", "pid", "uts", "ipc", "net", "cgroup" };
-	static int flags[] = {
-		CLONE_NEWUSER, CLONE_NEWNS, CLONE_NEWPID, CLONE_NEWUTS, CLONE_NEWIPC,
-		CLONE_NEWNET, CLONE_NEWCGROUP
-	};
-	static const int size = sizeof(ns) / sizeof(char *);
-	int fd[size];
+	int fd[LXC_NS_MAX];
 	int i, j, saved_errno;
 
 
@@ -239,16 +229,16 @@ static int lxc_attach_to_ns(pid_t pid, int which)
 		return -1;
 	}
 
-	for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
+	for (i = 0; i < LXC_NS_MAX; i++) {
 		/* ignore if we are not supposed to attach to that
 		 * namespace
 		 */
-		if (which != -1 && !(which & flags[i])) {
+		if (which != -1 && !(which & ns_info[i].clone_flag)) {
 			fd[i] = -1;
 			continue;
 		}
 
-		fd[i] = lxc_preserve_ns(pid, ns[i]);
+		fd[i] = lxc_preserve_ns(pid, ns_info[i].proc_name);
 		if (fd[i] < 0) {
 			saved_errno = errno;
 
@@ -259,23 +249,28 @@ static int lxc_attach_to_ns(pid_t pid, int which)
 				close(fd[j]);
 
 			errno = saved_errno;
-			SYSERROR("failed to open namespace: '%s'.", ns[i]);
+			SYSERROR("failed to open namespace: '%s'.", ns_info[i].proc_name);
 			return -1;
 		}
 	}
 
-	for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
-		if (fd[i] >= 0 && setns(fd[i], 0) != 0) {
+	for (i = 0; i < LXC_NS_MAX; i++) {
+		if (fd[i] < 0)
+			continue;
+
+		if (setns(fd[i], 0) < 0) {
 			saved_errno = errno;
 
-			for (j = i; j < size; j++)
+			for (j = i; j < LXC_NS_MAX; j++)
 				close(fd[j]);
 
 			errno = saved_errno;
-			SYSERROR("failed to set namespace '%s'", ns[i]);
+			SYSERROR("Failed to attach to namespace \"%s\".", ns_info[i].proc_name);
 			return -1;
 		}
 
+		DEBUG("Attached to namespace \"%s\".", ns_info[i].proc_name);
+
 		close(fd[i]);
 	}
 
@@ -1245,11 +1240,9 @@ static int attach_child_main(void* data)
 		flags = fcntl(fd, F_GETFL);
 		if (flags < 0)
 			continue;
-		if (flags & FD_CLOEXEC) {
-			if (fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, flags & ~FD_CLOEXEC) < 0) {
+		if (flags & FD_CLOEXEC)
+			if (fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, flags & ~FD_CLOEXEC) < 0)
 				SYSERROR("Unable to clear CLOEXEC from fd");
-			}
-		}
 	}
 
 	/* we don't need proc anymore */
diff --git a/src/lxc/namespace.c b/src/lxc/namespace.c
index bb76f4c903..3a5b3bef6c 100644
--- a/src/lxc/namespace.c
+++ b/src/lxc/namespace.c
@@ -69,12 +69,28 @@ pid_t lxc_clone(int (*fn)(void *), void *arg, int flags)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+/* Leave the user namespace at the first position in the array of structs so
+ * that we always attach to it first when iterating over the struct and using
+ * setns() to switch namespaces. This especially affects lxc_attach(): Suppose
+ * you cloned a new user namespace and mount namespace as an unprivileged user
+ * on the host and want to setns() to the mount namespace. This requires you to
+ * attach to the user namespace first otherwise the kernel will fail this check:
+ *
+ *        if (!ns_capable(mnt_ns->user_ns, CAP_SYS_ADMIN) ||
+ *            !ns_capable(current_user_ns(), CAP_SYS_CHROOT) ||
+ *            !ns_capable(current_user_ns(), CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
+ *            return -EPERM;
+ *
+ *    in
+ *
+ *        linux/fs/namespace.c:mntns_install().
+ */
 const struct ns_info ns_info[LXC_NS_MAX] = {
+	[LXC_NS_USER] = {"user", CLONE_NEWUSER, "CLONE_NEWUSER"},
 	[LXC_NS_MNT] = {"mnt", CLONE_NEWNS, "CLONE_NEWNS"},
 	[LXC_NS_PID] = {"pid", CLONE_NEWPID, "CLONE_NEWPID"},
 	[LXC_NS_UTS] = {"uts", CLONE_NEWUTS, "CLONE_NEWUTS"},
 	[LXC_NS_IPC] = {"ipc", CLONE_NEWIPC, "CLONE_NEWIPC"},
-	[LXC_NS_USER] = {"user", CLONE_NEWUSER, "CLONE_NEWUSER"},
 	[LXC_NS_NET] = {"net", CLONE_NEWNET, "CLONE_NEWNET"},
 	[LXC_NS_CGROUP] = {"cgroup", CLONE_NEWCGROUP, "CLONE_NEWCGROUP"}
 };
diff --git a/src/lxc/namespace.h b/src/lxc/namespace.h
index 57167f4d04..4916950c15 100644
--- a/src/lxc/namespace.h
+++ b/src/lxc/namespace.h
@@ -54,11 +54,11 @@
 #endif
 
 enum {
+	LXC_NS_USER,
 	LXC_NS_MNT,
 	LXC_NS_PID,
 	LXC_NS_UTS,
 	LXC_NS_IPC,
-	LXC_NS_USER,
 	LXC_NS_NET,
 	LXC_NS_CGROUP,
 	LXC_NS_MAX