diff --git a/bib/internal/podmanutil/podmanutils.go b/bib/internal/podmanutil/podmanutils.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac6c485
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bib/internal/podmanutil/podmanutils.go
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package podmanutil
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"bytes"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/fs"
+	"os"
+)
+
+// envPath is written by podman
+const envPath = "/run/.containerenv"
+
+// rootlessKey is set when we are rootless
+const rootlessKey = "rootless=1"
+
+// IsRootless detects if we are running rootless in podman;
+// other situations (e.g. docker) will successfuly return false.
+func IsRootless() (bool, error) {
+	buf, err := os.ReadFile(envPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		if errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
+			return false, nil
+		}
+		return false, err
+	}
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(bytes.NewReader(buf))
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		if scanner.Text() == rootlessKey {
+			return true, nil
+		}
+	}
+	if err := scanner.Err(); err != nil {
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("parsing %s: %w", envPath, err)
+	}
+	return false, nil
+}
diff --git a/bib/internal/setup/setup.go b/bib/internal/setup/setup.go
index 71b0b1a..e2a3c23 100644
--- a/bib/internal/setup/setup.go
+++ b/bib/internal/setup/setup.go
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ import (
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
 
+	"github.com/osbuild/bootc-image-builder/bib/internal/podmanutil"
 	"github.com/osbuild/bootc-image-builder/bib/internal/utils"
+	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 )
 
 // EnsureEnvironment mutates external filesystem state as necessary
@@ -74,5 +76,23 @@ func EnsureEnvironment() error {
 // Validate checks that the environment is supported (e.g. caller set up the
 // container correctly)
 func Validate() error {
+	isRootless, err := podmanutil.IsRootless()
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("checking rootless: %w", err)
+	}
+	if isRootless {
+		return fmt.Errorf("this command must be run in rootful (not rootless) podman")
+	}
+
+	// Having /sys be writable is an easy to check proxy for privileges; more effective
+	// is really looking for CAP_SYS_ADMIN, but that involves more Go libraries.
+	var stvfsbuf unix.Statfs_t
+	if err := unix.Statfs("/sys", &stvfsbuf); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to stat /sys: %w", err)
+	}
+	if (stvfsbuf.Flags & unix.ST_RDONLY) > 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("this command requires a privileged container")
+	}
+
 	return nil
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}