diff --git a/block/export/fuse.c b/block/export/fuse.c
index d0b88e8f80..4068250241 100644
--- a/block/export/fuse.c
+++ b/block/export/fuse.c
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ typedef struct FuseExport {
     char *mountpoint;
     bool writable;
     bool growable;
+    /* Whether allow_other was used as a mount option or not */
+    bool allow_other;
 } FuseExport;
 
 static GHashTable *exports;
@@ -57,7 +59,7 @@ static void fuse_export_delete(BlockExport *exp);
 static void init_exports_table(void);
 
 static int setup_fuse_export(FuseExport *exp, const char *mountpoint,
-                             Error **errp);
+                             bool allow_other, Error **errp);
 static void read_from_fuse_export(void *opaque);
 
 static bool is_regular_file(const char *path, Error **errp);
@@ -118,7 +120,22 @@ static int fuse_export_create(BlockExport *blk_exp,
     exp->writable = blk_exp_args->writable;
     exp->growable = args->growable;
 
-    ret = setup_fuse_export(exp, args->mountpoint, errp);
+    /* set default */
+    if (!args->has_allow_other) {
+        args->allow_other = FUSE_EXPORT_ALLOW_OTHER_AUTO;
+    }
+
+    if (args->allow_other == FUSE_EXPORT_ALLOW_OTHER_AUTO) {
+        /* Ignore errors on our first attempt */
+        ret = setup_fuse_export(exp, args->mountpoint, true, NULL);
+        exp->allow_other = ret == 0;
+        if (ret < 0) {
+            ret = setup_fuse_export(exp, args->mountpoint, false, errp);
+        }
+    } else {
+        exp->allow_other = args->allow_other == FUSE_EXPORT_ALLOW_OTHER_ON;
+        ret = setup_fuse_export(exp, args->mountpoint, exp->allow_other, errp);
+    }
     if (ret < 0) {
         goto fail;
     }
@@ -146,7 +163,7 @@ static void init_exports_table(void)
  * Create exp->fuse_session and mount it.
  */
 static int setup_fuse_export(FuseExport *exp, const char *mountpoint,
-                             Error **errp)
+                             bool allow_other, Error **errp)
 {
     const char *fuse_argv[4];
     char *mount_opts;
@@ -157,8 +174,9 @@ static int setup_fuse_export(FuseExport *exp, const char *mountpoint,
      * max_read needs to match what fuse_init() sets.
      * max_write need not be supplied.
      */
-    mount_opts = g_strdup_printf("max_read=%zu,default_permissions",
-                                 FUSE_MAX_BOUNCE_BYTES);
+    mount_opts = g_strdup_printf("max_read=%zu,default_permissions%s",
+                                 FUSE_MAX_BOUNCE_BYTES,
+                                 allow_other ? ",allow_other" : "");
 
     fuse_argv[0] = ""; /* Dummy program name */
     fuse_argv[1] = "-o";
diff --git a/qapi/block-export.json b/qapi/block-export.json
index e819e70cac..0ed63442a8 100644
--- a/qapi/block-export.json
+++ b/qapi/block-export.json
@@ -120,6 +120,23 @@
 	    '*logical-block-size': 'size',
             '*num-queues': 'uint16'} }
 
+##
+# @FuseExportAllowOther:
+#
+# Possible allow_other modes for FUSE exports.
+#
+# @off: Do not pass allow_other as a mount option.
+#
+# @on: Pass allow_other as a mount option.
+#
+# @auto: Try mounting with allow_other first, and if that fails, retry
+#        without allow_other.
+#
+# Since: 6.1
+##
+{ 'enum': 'FuseExportAllowOther',
+  'data': ['off', 'on', 'auto'] }
+
 ##
 # @BlockExportOptionsFuse:
 #
@@ -132,11 +149,25 @@
 # @growable: Whether writes beyond the EOF should grow the block node
 #            accordingly. (default: false)
 #
+# @allow-other: If this is off, only qemu's user is allowed access to
+#               this export.  That cannot be changed even with chmod or
+#               chown.
+#               Enabling this option will allow other users access to
+#               the export with the FUSE mount option "allow_other".
+#               Note that using allow_other as a non-root user requires
+#               user_allow_other to be enabled in the global fuse.conf
+#               configuration file.
+#               In auto mode (the default), the FUSE export driver will
+#               first attempt to mount the export with allow_other, and
+#               if that fails, try again without.
+#               (since 6.1; default: auto)
+#
 # Since: 6.0
 ##
 { 'struct': 'BlockExportOptionsFuse',
   'data': { 'mountpoint': 'str',
-            '*growable': 'bool' },
+            '*growable': 'bool',
+            '*allow-other': 'FuseExportAllowOther' },
   'if': 'defined(CONFIG_FUSE)' }
 
 ##
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/308 b/tests/qemu-iotests/308
index 11c28a75f2..d13a9a969c 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/308
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/308
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ _supported_os Linux # We need /dev/urandom
 # $4: Node to export (defaults to 'node-format')
 fuse_export_add()
 {
+    # The grep -v is a filter for errors when /etc/fuse.conf does not contain
+    # user_allow_other.  (The error is benign, but it is printed by fusermount
+    # on the first mount attempt, so our export code cannot hide it.)
     _send_qemu_cmd $QEMU_HANDLE \
         "{'execute': 'block-export-add',
           'arguments': {
@@ -67,7 +70,8 @@ fuse_export_add()
               $2
           } }" \
         "${3:-return}" \
-        | _filter_imgfmt
+        | _filter_imgfmt \
+        | grep -v 'option allow_other only allowed if'
 }
 
 # $1: Export ID
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
index cbbf6d7c7f..609d82de89 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
@@ -512,9 +512,13 @@ _make_test_img()
         # Usually, users would export formatted nodes.  But we present fuse as a
         # protocol-level driver here, so we have to leave the format to the
         # client.
+        # Switch off allow-other, because in general we do not need it for
+        # iotests.  The default allow-other=auto has the downside of printing a
+        # fusermount error on its first attempt if allow_other is not
+        # permissible, which we would need to filter.
         QSD_NEED_PID=y $QSD \
               --blockdev file,node-name=export-node,filename=$img_name,discard=unmap \
-              --export fuse,id=fuse-export,node-name=export-node,mountpoint="$export_mp",writable=on,growable=on \
+              --export fuse,id=fuse-export,node-name=export-node,mountpoint="$export_mp",writable=on,growable=on,allow-other=off \
               &
 
         pidfile="$QEMU_TEST_DIR/qemu-storage-daemon.pid"