diff --git a/osbase/net/sshtakeover/sshtakeover.go b/osbase/net/sshtakeover/sshtakeover.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20a70d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/osbase/net/sshtakeover/sshtakeover.go
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+// Copyright The Monogon Project Authors.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+// Package sshtakeover provides an [ssh.Client] wrapper which provides utilities
+// for taking over a machine over ssh, by uploading an executable and other
+// payloads, and then executing the executable.
+package sshtakeover
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net"
+
+	"github.com/pkg/sftp"
+	"golang.org/x/crypto/ssh"
+)
+
+type Client struct {
+	cl *ssh.Client
+	sc *sftp.Client
+}
+
+// Dial starts an ssh client connection.
+func Dial(ctx context.Context, address string, config *ssh.ClientConfig) (*Client, error) {
+	d := net.Dialer{
+		Timeout: config.Timeout,
+	}
+	conn, err := d.DialContext(ctx, "tcp", address)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	conn2, chanC, reqC, err := ssh.NewClientConn(conn, address, config)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	cl := ssh.NewClient(conn2, chanC, reqC)
+
+	sc, err := sftp.NewClient(cl, sftp.UseConcurrentWrites(true), sftp.MaxConcurrentRequestsPerFile(1024))
+	if err != nil {
+		cl.Close()
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("while building sftp client: %w", err)
+	}
+	return &Client{
+		cl: cl,
+		sc: sc,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// Execute a given command on a remote host synchronously, passing in stdin as
+// input, and returning a captured stdout/stderr. The returned data might be
+// valid even when err != nil, which might happen if the remote side returned a
+// non-zero exit code.
+func (p *Client) Execute(ctx context.Context, command string, stdin []byte) (stdout []byte, stderr []byte, err error) {
+	sess, err := p.cl.NewSession()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("while creating SSH session: %w", err)
+	}
+	stdoutBuf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
+	stderrBuf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
+	sess.Stdin = bytes.NewBuffer(stdin)
+	sess.Stdout = stdoutBuf
+	sess.Stderr = stderrBuf
+	defer sess.Close()
+
+	if err := sess.Start(command); err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, err
+	}
+	doneC := make(chan error, 1)
+	go func() {
+		doneC <- sess.Wait()
+	}()
+	select {
+	case <-ctx.Done():
+		return nil, nil, ctx.Err()
+	case err := <-doneC:
+		return stdoutBuf.Bytes(), stderrBuf.Bytes(), err
+	}
+}
+
+// Upload a given blob to a targetPath on the system.
+func (p *Client) Upload(ctx context.Context, targetPath string, src io.Reader) error {
+	df, err := p.sc.Create(targetPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("while creating file on the host: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	doneC := make(chan error, 1)
+
+	go func() {
+		_, err := df.ReadFromWithConcurrency(src, 0)
+		df.Close()
+		doneC <- err
+	}()
+
+	select {
+	case err := <-doneC:
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("while copying file: %w", err)
+		}
+	case <-ctx.Done():
+		df.Close()
+		return ctx.Err()
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// UploadExecutable uploads a given blob to a targetPath on the system
+// and makes it executable.
+func (p *Client) UploadExecutable(ctx context.Context, targetPath string, src io.Reader) error {
+	if err := p.Upload(ctx, targetPath, src); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := p.sc.Chmod(targetPath, 0755); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("while setting file permissions: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (p *Client) Close() error {
+	scErr := p.sc.Close()
+	clErr := p.cl.Close()
+	if clErr != nil {
+		return clErr
+	}
+	return scErr
+}