diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index 89f7b58f8..ef37275ac 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -946,7 +946,7 @@ void killUser(uid_t uid)
 #else
             if (kill(-1, SIGKILL) == 0) break;
 #endif
-            if (errno == ESRCH) break; /* no more processes */
+            if (errno == ESRCH || errno == EPERM) break; /* no more processes */
             if (errno != EINTR)
                 throw SysError("cannot kill processes for uid '%1%'", uid);
         }