diff --git a/man/loginctl.xml b/man/loginctl.xml
index 534a0d961e..617852dfa7 100644
--- a/man/loginctl.xml
+++ b/man/loginctl.xml
@@ -280,11 +280,10 @@
         one or more logged in users, followed by the most recent log
         data from the journal. Takes one or more user names or numeric
         user IDs as parameters. If no parameters are passed, the status
-        of the caller's user is shown. This function is intended to
-        generate human-readable output. If you are looking for
-        computer-parsable output, use <command>show-user</command>
-        instead. Users may be specified by their usernames or numeric
-        user IDs. </para></listitem>
+        is shown for the user of the session of the caller. This
+        function is intended to generate human-readable output. If you
+        are looking for computer-parsable output, use
+        <command>show-user</command> instead.</para></listitem>
       </varlistentry>
 
       <varlistentry>
diff --git a/src/login/logind-dbus.c b/src/login/logind-dbus.c
index a023546b4e..016274fb7a 100644
--- a/src/login/logind-dbus.c
+++ b/src/login/logind-dbus.c
@@ -1160,13 +1160,13 @@ static int method_terminate_seat(sd_bus_message *message, void *userdata, sd_bus
 }
 
 static int method_set_user_linger(sd_bus_message *message, void *userdata, sd_bus_error *error) {
+        _cleanup_(sd_bus_creds_unrefp) sd_bus_creds *creds = NULL;
         _cleanup_free_ char *cc = NULL;
         Manager *m = userdata;
         int r, b, interactive;
         struct passwd *pw;
         const char *path;
-        uint32_t uid;
-        bool self = false;
+        uint32_t uid, auth_uid;
 
         assert(message);
         assert(m);
@@ -1175,22 +1175,23 @@ static int method_set_user_linger(sd_bus_message *message, void *userdata, sd_bu
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
+        r = sd_bus_query_sender_creds(message, SD_BUS_CREDS_EUID |
+                                               SD_BUS_CREDS_OWNER_UID|SD_BUS_CREDS_AUGMENT, &creds);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
         if (!uid_is_valid(uid)) {
-                _cleanup_(sd_bus_creds_unrefp) sd_bus_creds *creds = NULL;
-
-                /* Note that we get the owner UID of the session, not the actual client UID here! */
-                r = sd_bus_query_sender_creds(message, SD_BUS_CREDS_OWNER_UID|SD_BUS_CREDS_AUGMENT, &creds);
-                if (r < 0)
-                        return r;
-
+                /* Note that we get the owner UID of the session or user unit,
+                 * not the actual client UID here! */
                 r = sd_bus_creds_get_owner_uid(creds, &uid);
                 if (r < 0)
                         return r;
+        }
 
-                self = true;
-
-        } else if (!uid_is_valid(uid))
-                return -EINVAL;
+        /* owner_uid is racy, so for authorization we must use euid */
+        r = sd_bus_creds_get_euid(creds, &auth_uid);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
 
         errno = 0;
         pw = getpwuid(uid);
@@ -1200,7 +1201,8 @@ static int method_set_user_linger(sd_bus_message *message, void *userdata, sd_bu
         r = bus_verify_polkit_async(
                         message,
                         CAP_SYS_ADMIN,
-                        self ? "org.freedesktop.login1.set-self-linger" : "org.freedesktop.login1.set-user-linger",
+                        uid == auth_uid ? "org.freedesktop.login1.set-self-linger" :
+                                          "org.freedesktop.login1.set-user-linger",
                         NULL,
                         interactive,
                         UID_INVALID,