diff --git a/client/allocdir/alloc_dir_posix.go b/client/allocdir/alloc_dir_posix.go
index d5e4a9296..e6205b220 100644
--- a/client/allocdir/alloc_dir_posix.go
+++ b/client/allocdir/alloc_dir_posix.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ package allocdir
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/helper/user-lookup"
 	"os"
 	"os/user"
 	"strconv"
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ func (d *AllocDir) dropDirPermissions(path string) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	u, err := user.Lookup("nobody")
+	u, err := userlookup.Lookup("nobody")
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/client/driver/executor/exec_linux.go b/client/driver/executor/exec_linux.go
index a5b33e06b..26d2d7145 100644
--- a/client/driver/executor/exec_linux.go
+++ b/client/driver/executor/exec_linux.go
@@ -14,18 +14,18 @@ import (
 	"syscall"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror"
-	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/allocdir"
-	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/driver/environment"
-	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/driver/spawn"
-	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/helper/args"
-	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/structs"
-
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/cgroups"
 	cgroupFs "github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/cgroups/fs"
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/cgroups/systemd"
 	cgroupConfig "github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs"
 
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/allocdir"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/driver/environment"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/driver/spawn"
 	cstructs "github.com/hashicorp/nomad/client/driver/structs"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/helper/args"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/helper/user-lookup"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/nomad/nomad/structs"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ func (e *LinuxExecutor) ID() (string, error) {
 // runAs takes a user id as a string and looks up the user, and sets the command
 // to execute as that user.
 func (e *LinuxExecutor) runAs(userid string) error {
-	u, err := user.Lookup(userid)
+	u, err := userlookup.Lookup(userid)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("Failed to identify user %v: %v", userid, err)
 	}
diff --git a/helper/user-lookup/user-lookup.go b/helper/user-lookup/user-lookup.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..439449787
--- /dev/null
+++ b/helper/user-lookup/user-lookup.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package userlookup
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"os/user"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// Lookup checks if the given username or uid is present in /etc/passwd
+// and returns the user struct.
+// If the username is not found, an error is returned.
+// Credit to @creak, https://github.com/docker/docker/pull/1096
+func Lookup(uid string) (*user.User, error) {
+	file, err := ioutil.ReadFile("/etc/passwd")
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(string(file), "\n") {
+		data := strings.Split(line, ":")
+		if len(data) > 5 && (data[0] == uid || data[2] == uid) {
+			return &user.User{
+				Uid:      data[2],
+				Gid:      data[3],
+				Username: data[0],
+				Name:     data[4],
+				HomeDir:  data[5],
+			}, nil
+		}
+	}
+	return nil, fmt.Errorf("User not found in /etc/passwd")
+}