diff -urp smartmontools-5.38.orig/configure.in smartmontools-5.38/configure.in
--- smartmontools-5.38.orig/configure.in	2009-08-16 07:42:57.000000000 -0400
+++ smartmontools-5.38/configure.in	2009-08-16 08:07:53.000000000 -0400
@@ -143,6 +143,8 @@ if test "$with_selinux" = "yes"; then
 	AC_DEFINE(WITH_SELINUX, [1], [Define to 1 if SELinux support is enabled])
 fi
 
+LIBCAP_NG_PATH
+
 if test "$prefix" = "NONE"; then
     dnl no prefix and no mandir, so use ${prefix}/share/man as default
     if test "$mandir" = '${prefix}/man'; then
diff -urp smartmontools-5.38.orig/Makefile.am smartmontools-5.38/Makefile.am
--- smartmontools-5.38.orig/Makefile.am	2009-08-16 07:42:57.000000000 -0400
+++ smartmontools-5.38/Makefile.am	2009-08-16 08:07:53.000000000 -0400
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ smartd_SOURCES =  smartd.cpp      \
                   utility.cpp     \
                   utility.h
 
-smartd_LDADD = @os_deps@ @os_libs@
+smartd_LDADD = @os_deps@ @os_libs@ @CAPNG_LDADD@
 smartd_DEPENDENCIES = @os_deps@
 
 EXTRA_smartd_SOURCES = os_darwin.cpp    \
diff -urp smartmontools-5.38.orig/smartd.cpp smartmontools-5.38/smartd.cpp
--- smartmontools-5.38.orig/smartd.cpp	2009-08-16 07:42:57.000000000 -0400
+++ smartmontools-5.38/smartd.cpp	2009-08-16 08:08:27.000000000 -0400
@@ -74,6 +74,10 @@ extern "C" int __stdcall FreeConsole(voi
 #include <io.h> // setmode()
 #endif // __CYGWIN__
 
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP_NG
+#include <cap-ng.h>
+#endif //LIBCAP_NG
+
 // locally included files
 #include "int64.h"
 #include "atacmds.h"
@@ -4408,6 +4412,14 @@ static int smartd_main(int argc, char **
   
   // don't exit on bad checksums
   con->checksumfail=0;
+
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP_NG
+  // Drop capabilities
+  capng_clear(CAPNG_SELECT_BOTH);
+  capng_update(CAPNG_ADD, (capng_type_t)(CAPNG_EFFECTIVE|CAPNG_PERMITTED),
+               CAP_SYS_ADMIN);
+  capng_apply(CAPNG_SELECT_BOTH);
+#endif
   
   // the main loop of the code
   while (1){