diff --git a/repos/libports/lib/mk/pthread.mk b/repos/libports/lib/mk/pthread.mk
index 216cbcbd80..96b2648b5d 100644
--- a/repos/libports/lib/mk/pthread.mk
+++ b/repos/libports/lib/mk/pthread.mk
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-SRC_CC = semaphore.cc \
+SRC_CC = semaphore.cc rwlock.cc \
          thread.cc thread_create.cc 
 
 LIBS  += libc
diff --git a/repos/libports/src/lib/pthread/rwlock.cc b/repos/libports/src/lib/pthread/rwlock.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0fd961174d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/src/lib/pthread/rwlock.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+/*
+ * \brief  POSIX readers/writer lock (rwlock) implementation
+ * \author Alexander Senier
+ * \date   2018-01-25
+ *
+ */
+
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2018 Componolit GmbH
+ *
+ * This file is part of the Genode OS framework, which is distributed
+ * under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.
+ */
+
+/* Genode includes */
+#include <base/log.h>
+#include <base/lock.h>
+#include <base/lock_guard.h>
+#include <base/thread.h>
+
+/* Libc includes */
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <pthread.h>
+
+/*
+ * A reader-preferring implementation of a readers-writer lock as described
+ * in Michael Raynal, "Concurrent Programming: Algorithms, Principles, and
+ * Foundations", ISBN 978-3-642-32026-2, page 75
+ */
+
+extern "C" {
+
+	/*
+	 * This class is named 'struct pthread_rwlock' because the 'pthread_rwlock_t'
+	 * type is defined as 'struct rwlock*' in 'sys/_pthreadtypes.h'
+	 */
+	struct pthread_rwlock
+	{
+		private:
+
+			Genode::Thread *_owner;
+			Genode::Lock _nbr_mutex {};
+			Genode::Lock _global_mutex {};
+			int _nbr = 0;
+
+		public:
+
+			void rdlock()
+			{
+				Genode::Lock_guard<Genode::Lock> guard(_nbr_mutex);
+				++_nbr;
+				if (_nbr == 1) {
+					_global_mutex.lock();
+				}
+			}
+
+			void wrlock()
+			{
+				_global_mutex.lock();
+				_owner = Genode::Thread::myself();
+			}
+
+			int unlock()
+			{
+				Genode::Lock_guard<Genode::Lock> guard(_nbr_mutex);
+
+				/* Read lock */
+				if (_owner == nullptr) {
+					_nbr--;
+					if (_nbr == 0) {
+						_global_mutex.unlock();
+					}
+					return 0;
+				};
+
+				if (_owner != Genode::Thread::myself()) {
+					Genode::error("Unlocking writer lock owned by other thread");
+					errno = EPERM;
+					return -1;
+				};
+
+				/* Write lock owned by us */
+				_global_mutex.unlock();
+				return 0;
+			}
+	};
+
+	struct pthread_rwlockattr
+	{
+	};
+
+	int pthread_rwlock_init(pthread_rwlock_t *rwlock, const pthread_rwlockattr_t *attr)
+	{
+		*rwlock = new struct pthread_rwlock();
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	int pthread_rwlock_destroy(pthread_rwlock_t *rwlock)
+	{
+		delete *rwlock;
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	int pthread_rwlock_rdlock(pthread_rwlock_t * rwlock)
+	{
+		(*rwlock)->rdlock();
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	int pthread_rwlock_wrlock(pthread_rwlock_t *rwlock)
+	{
+		(*rwlock)->wrlock();
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	int pthread_rwlock_unlock(pthread_rwlock_t *rwlock)
+	{
+		return (*rwlock)->unlock();
+	}
+
+	int pthread_rwlockattr_init(pthread_rwlockattr_t *attr)
+	{
+		*attr = new struct pthread_rwlockattr();
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	int pthread_rwlockattr_getpshared(const pthread_rwlockattr_t *attr, int *pshared)
+	{
+		*pshared = PTHREAD_PROCESS_PRIVATE;
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	int pthread_rwlockattr_setpshared(pthread_rwlockattr_t *attr, int pshared)
+	{
+		if (pshared != PTHREAD_PROCESS_PRIVATE) {
+			errno = EINVAL;
+			return -1;
+		}
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	int pthread_rwlockattr_destroy(pthread_rwlockattr_t *attr)
+	{
+		delete *attr;
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * Unimplemented functions:
+	 *  int pthread_rwlock_timedrdlock(pthread_rwlock_t *, const struct timespec *);
+	 *  int pthread_rwlock_timedwrlock(pthread_rwlock_t *, const struct timespec *);
+	 *  int pthread_rwlock_tryrdlock(pthread_rwlock_t *);
+	 *  int pthread_rwlock_trywrlock(pthread_rwlock_t *);
+	 */
+}