diff --git a/cinder/tests/test_quobyte.py b/cinder/tests/test_quobyte.py
index d4f0547c617..90b73f7e814 100644
--- a/cinder/tests/test_quobyte.py
+++ b/cinder/tests/test_quobyte.py
@@ -130,8 +130,7 @@ class QuobyteDriverTestCase(test.TestCase):
                 mock.patch.object(self._driver, '_execute'),
                 mock.patch('cinder.volume.drivers.quobyte.QuobyteDriver'
                            '.read_proc_mount'),
-                mock.patch('xattr.getxattr')
-        ) as (mock_execute, mock_open, mock_getxattr):
+        ) as (mock_execute, mock_open):
             # Content of /proc/mount (not mounted yet).
             mock_open.return_value = StringIO.StringIO(
                 "/dev/sda5 / ext4 rw,relatime,data=ordered 0 0")
@@ -144,31 +143,32 @@ class QuobyteDriverTestCase(test.TestCase):
             mount_call = mock.call(
                 'mount.quobyte', self.TEST_QUOBYTE_VOLUME,
                 self.TEST_MNT_POINT, run_as_root=False)
-            mock_execute.assert_has_calls([mkdir_call, mount_call],
-                                          any_order=False)
-            mock_getxattr.assert_called_once_with(self.TEST_MNT_POINT,
-                                                  'quobyte.info')
+
+            getfattr_call = mock.call(
+                'getfattr', '-n', 'quobyte.info', self.TEST_MNT_POINT,
+                run_as_root=False)
+
+            mock_execute.assert_has_calls(
+                [mkdir_call, mount_call, getfattr_call], any_order=False)
 
     def test_mount_quobyte_already_mounted_detected_seen_in_proc_mount(self):
         with contextlib.nested(
                 mock.patch.object(self._driver, '_execute'),
                 mock.patch('cinder.volume.drivers.quobyte.QuobyteDriver'
                            '.read_proc_mount'),
-                mock.patch('xattr.getxattr')
-        ) as (mock_execute, mock_open, mock_getxattr):
+        ) as (mock_execute, mock_open):
             # Content of /proc/mount (already mounted).
             mock_open.return_value = StringIO.StringIO(
                 "quobyte@%s %s fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,user_id=1000"
                 ",group_id=100,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0"
                 % (self.TEST_QUOBYTE_VOLUME, self.TEST_MNT_POINT))
-            mock_getxattr.return_value = "non-empty string"
 
             self._driver._mount_quobyte(self.TEST_QUOBYTE_VOLUME,
                                         self.TEST_MNT_POINT)
 
-            self.assertFalse(mock_execute.called)
-            mock_getxattr.assert_called_once_with(self.TEST_MNT_POINT,
-                                                  'quobyte.info')
+            mock_execute.assert_called_once_with(
+                'getfattr', '-n', 'quobyte.info', self.TEST_MNT_POINT,
+                run_as_root=False)
 
     def test_mount_quobyte_should_suppress_and_log_already_mounted_error(self):
         """Based on /proc/mount, the file system is not mounted yet. However,
diff --git a/cinder/volume/drivers/quobyte.py b/cinder/volume/drivers/quobyte.py
index 2119a0d78f9..caf3a78e261 100644
--- a/cinder/volume/drivers/quobyte.py
+++ b/cinder/volume/drivers/quobyte.py
@@ -19,11 +19,10 @@ import os
 
 from oslo_concurrency import processutils
 from oslo_config import cfg
-import xattr
 
 from cinder import compute
 from cinder import exception
-from cinder.i18n import _, _LE, _LI, _LW
+from cinder.i18n import _, _LI, _LW
 from cinder.image import image_utils
 from cinder.openstack.common import fileutils
 from cinder.openstack.common import log as logging
@@ -418,13 +417,19 @@ class QuobyteDriver(remotefs_drv.RemoteFSSnapDriver):
                     raise
 
         if mounted:
-            try:
-                xattr.getxattr(mount_path, 'quobyte.info')
-            except Exception as exc:
-                msg = _LE("The mount %(mount_path)s is not a valid"
-                          " Quobyte USP volume. Error: %(exc)s") \
-                    % {'mount_path': mount_path, 'exc': exc}
-                raise exception.VolumeDriverException(msg)
-            if not os.access(mount_path, os.W_OK | os.X_OK):
-                LOG.warn(_LW("Volume is not writable. Please broaden the file"
-                             " permissions. Mount: %s"), mount_path)
+            self._validate_volume(mount_path)
+
+    def _validate_volume(self, mount_path):
+        """Wraps execute calls for checking validity of a Quobyte volume"""
+        command = ['getfattr', "-n", "quobyte.info", mount_path]
+        try:
+            self._execute(*command, run_as_root=False)
+        except processutils.ProcessExecutionError as exc:
+            msg = (_("The mount %(mount_path)s is not a valid"
+                     " Quobyte USP volume. Error: %(exc)s")
+                   % {'mount_path': mount_path, 'exc': exc})
+            raise exception.VolumeDriverException(msg)
+
+        if not os.access(mount_path, os.W_OK | os.X_OK):
+            LOG.warn(_LW("Volume is not writable. Please broaden the file"
+                         " permissions. Mount: %s"), mount_path)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 26c1227f226..7e53a3f7b5b 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -44,4 +44,3 @@ WebOb>=1.2.3
 wsgiref>=0.1.2
 oslo.i18n>=1.3.0  # Apache-2.0
 oslo.vmware>=0.9.0                      # Apache-2.0
-xattr>=0.4