diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c
index 249e792c..d5ab57a2 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c
@@ -3382,8 +3382,9 @@ get_final_xattrs (OstreeRepo                       *self,
   /* track whether the returned xattrs differ from the file on disk */
   gboolean modified = TRUE;
   const gboolean skip_xattrs = (modifier &&
-      modifier->flags & (OSTREE_REPO_COMMIT_MODIFIER_FLAGS_SKIP_XATTRS |
-                         OSTREE_REPO_COMMIT_MODIFIER_FLAGS_CANONICAL_PERMISSIONS)) > 0;
+      (modifier->flags & (OSTREE_REPO_COMMIT_MODIFIER_FLAGS_SKIP_XATTRS |
+                          OSTREE_REPO_COMMIT_MODIFIER_FLAGS_CANONICAL_PERMISSIONS)) > 0) ||
+      self->mode == OSTREE_REPO_MODE_BARE_USER_ONLY;
 
   /* fetch on-disk xattrs if needed & not disabled */
   g_autoptr(GVariant) original_xattrs = NULL;
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h
index bbec1a37..962fa8cc 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h
@@ -684,7 +684,7 @@ typedef OstreeRepoCommitFilterResult (*OstreeRepoCommitFilter) (OstreeRepo    *r
  * @OSTREE_REPO_COMMIT_MODIFIER_FLAGS_DEVINO_CANONICAL: If a devino cache hit is found, skip modifier filters (non-directories only); Since: 2017.14
  *
  * Flags modifying commit behavior. In bare-user-only mode, @OSTREE_REPO_COMMIT_MODIFIER_FLAGS_CANONICAL_PERMISSIONS
- * is automatically enabled.
+ * and @OSTREE_REPO_COMMIT_MODIFIER_FLAGS_SKIP_XATTRS are automatically enabled.
  *
  */
 typedef enum {