diff --git a/cmd/deploy.go b/cmd/deploy.go
index fded27c1a..4936b6d87 100644
--- a/cmd/deploy.go
+++ b/cmd/deploy.go
@@ -155,6 +155,12 @@ func deployFn(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 
 	log.Info("Creating lab directory: ", c.TopoPaths.TopologyLabDir())
 	utils.CreateDirectory(c.TopoPaths.TopologyLabDir(), 0755)
+	// adjust ACL for Labdir such that SUDO_UID Users will
+	// also have access to lab directory files
+	err = utils.AdjustFileACLs(c.TopoPaths.TopologyLabDir())
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Infof("unable to adjust Labdir file ACLs: %v", err)
+	}
 
 	// create an empty ansible inventory file that will get populated later
 	// we create it here first, so that bind mounts of ansible-inventory.yml file could work
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 4559a3b39..7b4e9136a 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/scrapli/scrapligo v1.2.0
 	github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.9.3
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.8.0
+	github.com/steiler/acls v0.1.0
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.8.4
 	github.com/tklauser/numcpus v0.6.1
 	github.com/vishvananda/netlink v1.2.1-beta.2
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index b2227e95b..ab1797247 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -2678,6 +2678,12 @@ github.com/spf13/viper v1.7.0/go.mod h1:8WkrPz2fc9jxqZNCJI/76HCieCp4Q8HaLFoCha5q
 github.com/spf13/viper v1.13.0/go.mod h1:Icm2xNL3/8uyh/wFuB1jI7TiTNKp8632Nwegu+zgdYw=
 github.com/stefanberger/go-pkcs11uri v0.0.0-20201008174630-78d3cae3a980 h1:lIOOHPEbXzO3vnmx2gok1Tfs31Q8GQqKLc8vVqyQq/I=
 github.com/stefanberger/go-pkcs11uri v0.0.0-20201008174630-78d3cae3a980/go.mod h1:AO3tvPzVZ/ayst6UlUKUv6rcPQInYe3IknH3jYhAKu8=
+github.com/steiler/acls v0.0.0-20231106135104-9c34ae82c793 h1:lY8SggLL0JyttzcNEIRzbywKiKcIlVlF7ZPwTthG9eA=
+github.com/steiler/acls v0.0.0-20231106135104-9c34ae82c793/go.mod h1:kS9/GuHDS4t2YmY2ijbaK3m1iU4+BgRZS7GoDTC9BfY=
+github.com/steiler/acls v0.0.0-20231106152733-bb3d5d7b05c8 h1:RqP82h2DREJxj7AJbT0k7z2Jye6lweij5s14PUHic1o=
+github.com/steiler/acls v0.0.0-20231106152733-bb3d5d7b05c8/go.mod h1:kS9/GuHDS4t2YmY2ijbaK3m1iU4+BgRZS7GoDTC9BfY=
+github.com/steiler/acls v0.1.0 h1:fKVnEJ7ebghq2Ed5N1cU9fZrCCRj4xVRPrP7OswaRX8=
+github.com/steiler/acls v0.1.0/go.mod h1:kS9/GuHDS4t2YmY2ijbaK3m1iU4+BgRZS7GoDTC9BfY=
 github.com/stoewer/go-strcase v1.2.0/go.mod h1:IBiWB2sKIp3wVVQ3Y035++gc+knqhUQag1KpM8ahLw8=
 github.com/streadway/amqp v0.0.0-20190404075320-75d898a42a94/go.mod h1:AZpEONHx3DKn8O/DFsRAY58/XVQiIPMTMB1SddzLXVw=
 github.com/streadway/amqp v1.0.0/go.mod h1:AZpEONHx3DKn8O/DFsRAY58/XVQiIPMTMB1SddzLXVw=
diff --git a/utils/file.go b/utils/file.go
index 82e466d4d..9f29c6291 100644
--- a/utils/file.go
+++ b/utils/file.go
@@ -18,8 +18,11 @@ import (
 	"os/exec"
 	"os/user"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/steiler/acls"
+
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
@@ -333,6 +336,8 @@ func FileLines(path, commentStr string) ([]string, error) {
 	return lines, nil
 }
 
+// NewHTTPClient creates a new HTTP client with
+// insecure skip verify set to true and min TLS version set to 1.2.
 func NewHTTPClient() *http.Client {
 	// set InsecureSkipVerify to true to allow fetching
 	// files form servers with self-signed certificates
@@ -345,3 +350,60 @@ func NewHTTPClient() *http.Client {
 
 	return &http.Client{Transport: tr}
 }
+
+// AdjustFileACLs takes the given fs path, tries to load
+// the access file acl of that path and adds ACL rules
+// rwx for the SUDO_UID and r-x for the SUDO_GID group.
+func AdjustFileACLs(fsPath string) error {
+	/// here we trust sudo to set up env variables
+	// a missing SUDO_UID env var indicates the root user
+	// runs clab without sudo
+	uid, isSet := os.LookupEnv("SUDO_UID")
+	if !isSet {
+		// nothing to do, already running as root
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	gid, isSet := os.LookupEnv("SUDO_GID")
+	if !isSet {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to retrieve GID. will only adjust UID for %q", fsPath)
+	}
+
+	iUID, err := strconv.Atoi(uid)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to convert SUDO_UID %q to int", uid)
+	}
+
+	iGID, err := strconv.Atoi(gid)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to convert SUDO_GID %q to int", gid)
+	}
+
+	// create a new ACL instance
+	a := &acls.ACL{}
+	// load the existing ACL entries of the PosixACLAccess type
+	err = a.Load(fsPath, acls.PosixACLAccess)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// add an entry for the group
+	err = a.AddEntry(acls.NewEntry(acls.TAG_ACL_GROUP, uint32(iGID), 5))
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// add an entry for the User
+	err = a.AddEntry(acls.NewEntry(acls.TAG_ACL_USER, uint32(iUID), 7))
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// apply the ACL and return the error result
+	err = a.Apply(fsPath, acls.PosixACLAccess)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return a.Apply(fsPath, acls.PosixACLDefault)
+}