diff --git a/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/baseopenstackservice.py b/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/baseopenstackservice.py
index dcad61f0..ca3a61d6 100644
--- a/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/baseopenstackservice.py
+++ b/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/baseopenstackservice.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ from oslo.config import cfg
 
 from cloudbaseinit.metadata.services import base
 from cloudbaseinit.openstack.common import log as logging
-from cloudbaseinit.utils.windows import x509
+from cloudbaseinit.utils import x509constants
 
 opts = [
     cfg.StrOpt('metadata_base_url', default='http://169.254.169.254/',
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ class BaseOpenStackService(base.BaseMetadataService):
             # Look if the user_data contains a PEM certificate
             try:
                 user_data = self.get_user_data()
-                if user_data.startswith(x509.PEM_HEADER):
+                if user_data.startswith(x509constants.PEM_HEADER):
                     cert_data = user_data
             except base.NotExistingMetadataException:
                 LOG.debug("user_data metadata not present")
diff --git a/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/maasservice.py b/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/maasservice.py
index f0ad8698..2a371ba1 100644
--- a/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/maasservice.py
+++ b/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/maasservice.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from oslo.config import cfg
 
 from cloudbaseinit.metadata.services import base
 from cloudbaseinit.openstack.common import log as logging
-from cloudbaseinit.utils.windows import x509
+from cloudbaseinit.utils import x509constants
 
 opts = [
     cfg.StrOpt('maas_metadata_url', default=None,
@@ -121,4 +121,4 @@ class MaaSHttpService(base.BaseMetadataService):
     def get_client_auth_certs(self):
         return self._get_list_from_text(
             self._get_cache_data('%s/meta-data/x509' % self._metadata_version),
-            "%s\n" % x509.PEM_FOOTER)
+            "%s\n" % x509constants.PEM_FOOTER)
diff --git a/cloudbaseinit/utils/windows/x509.py b/cloudbaseinit/utils/windows/x509.py
index 35468445..7b00ecd3 100644
--- a/cloudbaseinit/utils/windows/x509.py
+++ b/cloudbaseinit/utils/windows/x509.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import uuid
 from ctypes import wintypes
 
 from cloudbaseinit.utils.windows import cryptoapi
+from cloudbaseinit.utils import x509constants
 
 malloc = ctypes.cdll.msvcrt.malloc
 malloc.restype = ctypes.c_void_p
@@ -34,9 +35,6 @@ STORE_NAME_MY = "My"
 STORE_NAME_ROOT = "Root"
 STORE_NAME_TRUSTED_PEOPLE = "TrustedPeople"
 
-PEM_HEADER = "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----"
-PEM_FOOTER = "-----END CERTIFICATE-----"
-
 
 class CryptoAPICertManager(object):
     def _get_cert_thumprint(self, cert_context_p):
@@ -204,11 +202,11 @@ class CryptoAPICertManager(object):
 
     def _get_cert_base64(self, cert_data):
         base64_cert_data = cert_data
-        if base64_cert_data.startswith(PEM_HEADER):
-            base64_cert_data = base64_cert_data[len(PEM_HEADER):]
-        if base64_cert_data.endswith(PEM_FOOTER):
+        if base64_cert_data.startswith(x509constants.PEM_HEADER):
+            base64_cert_data = base64_cert_data[len(x509constants.PEM_HEADER):]
+        if base64_cert_data.endswith(x509constants.PEM_FOOTER):
             base64_cert_data = base64_cert_data[:len(base64_cert_data) -
-                                                len(PEM_FOOTER)]
+                                                len(x509constants.PEM_FOOTER)]
         return base64_cert_data.replace("\n", "")
 
     def import_cert(self, cert_data, machine_keyset=True,
diff --git a/cloudbaseinit/utils/x509constants.py b/cloudbaseinit/utils/x509constants.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..90ce7b20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cloudbaseinit/utils/x509constants.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# Copyright 2014 Cloudbase Solutions Srl
+#
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+
+PEM_HEADER = "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----"
+PEM_FOOTER = "-----END CERTIFICATE-----"