diff --git a/src/basic/strv.c b/src/basic/strv.c
index 858e1e62ec..a172ca2fe9 100644
--- a/src/basic/strv.c
+++ b/src/basic/strv.c
@@ -353,6 +353,58 @@ int strv_split_extract(char ***t, const char *s, const char *separators, Extract
         return (int) n;
 }
 
+int strv_split_colon_pairs(char ***t, const char *s) {
+        _cleanup_strv_free_ char **l = NULL;
+        size_t n = 0, allocated = 0;
+        int r;
+
+        assert(t);
+        assert(s);
+
+        for (;;) {
+                _cleanup_free_ char *first = NULL, *second = NULL, *tuple = NULL, *second_or_empty = NULL;
+
+                r = extract_first_word(&s, &tuple, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE|EXTRACT_RETAIN_ESCAPE);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return r;
+                if (r == 0)
+                        break;
+
+                const char *p = tuple;
+                r = extract_many_words(&p, ":", EXTRACT_CUNESCAPE|EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_SEPARATORS,
+                                       &first, &second, NULL);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return r;
+                if (r == 0)
+                        continue;
+                /* Enforce that at most 2 colon-separated words are contained in each group */
+                if (!isempty(p))
+                        return -EINVAL;
+
+                second_or_empty = strdup(strempty(second));
+                if (!second_or_empty)
+                        return -ENOMEM;
+
+                if (!GREEDY_REALLOC(l, allocated, n + 3))
+                        return -ENOMEM;
+
+                l[n++] = TAKE_PTR(first);
+                l[n++] = TAKE_PTR(second_or_empty);
+
+                l[n] = NULL;
+        }
+
+        if (!l) {
+                l = new0(char*, 1);
+                if (!l)
+                        return -ENOMEM;
+        }
+
+        *t = TAKE_PTR(l);
+
+        return (int) n;
+}
+
 char *strv_join_prefix(char * const *l, const char *separator, const char *prefix) {
         char * const *s;
         char *r, *e;
diff --git a/src/basic/strv.h b/src/basic/strv.h
index 2ad927bce5..e57dfff69b 100644
--- a/src/basic/strv.h
+++ b/src/basic/strv.h
@@ -80,6 +80,11 @@ char **strv_split_newlines(const char *s);
 
 int strv_split_extract(char ***t, const char *s, const char *separators, ExtractFlags flags);
 
+/* Given a string containing white-space separated tuples of words themselves separated by ':',
+ * returns a vector of strings. If the second element in a tuple is missing, the corresponding
+ * string in the vector is an empty string. */
+int strv_split_colon_pairs(char ***t, const char *s);
+
 char *strv_join_prefix(char * const *l, const char *separator, const char *prefix);
 static inline char *strv_join(char * const *l, const char *separator) {
         return strv_join_prefix(l, separator, NULL);
diff --git a/src/test/test-strv.c b/src/test/test-strv.c
index cba5441d4b..fda5948f49 100644
--- a/src/test/test-strv.c
+++ b/src/test/test-strv.c
@@ -407,6 +407,35 @@ static void test_strv_split_extract(void) {
         assert_se(streq_ptr(l[5], NULL));
 }
 
+static void test_strv_split_colon_pairs(void) {
+        _cleanup_strv_free_ char **l = NULL;
+        const char *str = "one:two three four:five six seven:eight\\:nine ten\\:eleven\\\\",
+                   *str_inval="one:two three:four:five";
+        int r;
+
+        log_info("/* %s */", __func__);
+
+        r = strv_split_colon_pairs(&l, str);
+        assert_se(r == (int) strv_length(l));
+        assert_se(r == 12);
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[0], "one"));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[1], "two"));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[2], "three"));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[3], ""));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[4], "four"));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[5], "five"));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[6], "six"));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[7], ""));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[8], "seven"));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[9], "eight:nine"));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[10], "ten:eleven\\"));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[11], ""));
+        assert_se(streq_ptr(l[12], NULL));
+
+        r = strv_split_colon_pairs(&l, str_inval);
+        assert_se(r == -EINVAL);
+}
+
 static void test_strv_split_newlines(void) {
         unsigned i = 0;
         char **s;
@@ -998,6 +1027,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         test_strv_split();
         test_strv_split_empty();
         test_strv_split_extract();
+        test_strv_split_colon_pairs();
         test_strv_split_newlines();
         test_strv_split_nulstr();
         test_strv_parse_nulstr();