diff --git a/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.c b/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.c
index 8a7890b093..25b867538c 100644
--- a/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.c
+++ b/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.c
@@ -1175,3 +1175,20 @@ nm_utils_strdict_get_keys (const GHashTable *hash,
 	NM_SET_OUT (out_length, length);
 	return names;
 }
+
+char **
+nm_utils_strv_make_deep_copied (const char **strv)
+{
+	gsize i;
+
+	/* it takes a strv dictionary, and copies each
+	 * strings. Note that this updates @strv *in-place*
+	 * and returns it. */
+
+	if (!strv)
+		return NULL;
+	for (i = 0; strv[i]; i++)
+		strv[i] = g_strdup (strv[i]);
+
+	return (char **) strv;
+}
diff --git a/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.h b/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.h
index 81a66d5b28..e52b419b0c 100644
--- a/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.h
+++ b/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.h
@@ -447,6 +447,14 @@ const char **nm_utils_strdict_get_keys (const GHashTable *hash,
                                         gboolean sorted,
                                         guint *out_length);
 
+char **nm_utils_strv_make_deep_copied (const char **strv);
+
+static inline char **
+nm_utils_strv_make_deep_copied_nonnull (const char **strv)
+{
+	return nm_utils_strv_make_deep_copied (strv) ?: g_new0 (char *, 1);
+}
+
 /*****************************************************************************/
 
 #define NM_UTILS_NS_PER_SECOND  ((gint64) 1000000000)