diff --git a/package/qemu/Config.in b/package/qemu/Config.in
index 3177dd2..0eaad57 100644
--- a/package/qemu/Config.in
+++ b/package/qemu/Config.in
@@ -127,6 +127,13 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_QEMU_UUID
 comment "UUID support requires libuuid (from util-linux)"
 	depends on !BR2_PACKAGE_UTIL_LINUX_LIBUUID
 
+config BR2_PACKAGE_QEMU_CAP
+	bool "Enable capabilities"
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBCAP
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBCAP_NG
+	help
+	  Say 'y' here if you want QEMU to support capabilities.
+
 config BR2_PACKAGE_QEMU_BLOBS
 	bool "Install binary blobs"
 	default y
diff --git a/package/qemu/qemu.mk b/package/qemu/qemu.mk
index 980a75e..deac3a8 100644
--- a/package/qemu/qemu.mk
+++ b/package/qemu/qemu.mk
@@ -171,6 +171,16 @@ else
 QEMU_OPTS += --disable-uuid
 endif
 
+# There's no configure flag to disable use of libcap
+# so we must use an environment variable
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_QEMU_CAP),y)
+QEMU_OPTS += --enable-cap-ng
+QEMU_DEPENDENCIES += libcap libcap-ng
+else
+QEMU_OPTS += --disable-cap-ng
+QEMU_VARS += cap=no
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_QEMU_BLOBS),)
 QEMU_OPTS += --disable-blobs
 endif
@@ -267,7 +277,6 @@ define QEMU_CONFIGURE_CMDS
 	        --disable-guest-base                \
 	        --disable-vde                       \
 	        --disable-linux-aio                 \
-	        --disable-cap-ng                    \
 	        --disable-docs                      \
 	        --disable-spice                     \
 	        --disable-rbd                       \