diff --git a/backend/local/metadata_linux.go b/backend/local/metadata_linux.go
index 17d32c06b..b274148e7 100644
--- a/backend/local/metadata_linux.go
+++ b/backend/local/metadata_linux.go
@@ -5,19 +5,41 @@ package local
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/rclone/rclone/fs"
 	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 )
 
+var (
+	statxCheckOnce         sync.Once
+	readMetadataFromFileFn func(o *Object, m *fs.Metadata) (err error)
+)
+
 // Read the metadata from the file into metadata where possible
 func (o *Object) readMetadataFromFile(m *fs.Metadata) (err error) {
+	statxCheckOnce.Do(func() {
+		// Check statx() is available as it was only introduced in kernel 4.11
+		// If not, fall back to fstatat() which was introduced in 2.6.16 which is guaranteed for all Go versions
+		var stat unix.Statx_t
+		if unix.Statx(unix.AT_FDCWD, ".", 0, unix.STATX_ALL, &stat) != unix.ENOSYS {
+			readMetadataFromFileFn = readMetadataFromFileStatx
+		} else {
+			readMetadataFromFileFn = readMetadataFromFileFstatat
+		}
+	})
+	return readMetadataFromFileFn(o, m)
+}
+
+// Read the metadata from the file into metadata where possible
+func readMetadataFromFileStatx(o *Object, m *fs.Metadata) (err error) {
 	flags := unix.AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW
 	if o.fs.opt.FollowSymlinks {
 		flags = 0
 	}
 	var stat unix.Statx_t
+	//  statx() was added to Linux in kernel 4.11
 	err = unix.Statx(unix.AT_FDCWD, o.path, flags, (0 |
 		unix.STATX_TYPE | // Want stx_mode & S_IFMT
 		unix.STATX_MODE | // Want stx_mode & ~S_IFMT
@@ -45,3 +67,36 @@ func (o *Object) readMetadataFromFile(m *fs.Metadata) (err error) {
 	setTime("btime", stat.Btime)
 	return nil
 }
+
+// Read the metadata from the file into metadata where possible
+func readMetadataFromFileFstatat(o *Object, m *fs.Metadata) (err error) {
+	flags := unix.AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW
+	if o.fs.opt.FollowSymlinks {
+		flags = 0
+	}
+	var stat unix.Stat_t
+	// fstatat() was added to Linux in  kernel  2.6.16
+	// Go only supports 2.6.32 or later
+	err = unix.Fstatat(unix.AT_FDCWD, o.path, &stat, flags)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	m.Set("mode", fmt.Sprintf("%0o", stat.Mode))
+	m.Set("uid", fmt.Sprintf("%d", stat.Uid))
+	m.Set("gid", fmt.Sprintf("%d", stat.Gid))
+	if stat.Rdev != 0 {
+		m.Set("rdev", fmt.Sprintf("%x", stat.Rdev))
+	}
+	setTime := func(key string, t unix.Timespec) {
+		// The types of t.Sec and t.Nsec vary from int32 to int64 on
+		// different Linux architectures so we need to cast them to
+		// int64 here and hence need to quiet the linter about
+		// unecessary casts.
+		//
+		// nolint: unconvert
+		m.Set(key, time.Unix(int64(t.Sec), int64(t.Nsec)).Format(metadataTimeFormat))
+	}
+	setTime("atime", stat.Atim)
+	setTime("mtime", stat.Mtim)
+	return nil
+}