diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -43,9 +43,9 @@
 extern "C" Q_DECL_EXPORT int kdemain(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 #ifndef Q_OS_WIN
-    // Check whether we are running as root
-    if (getuid() == 0) {
-        std::cout << "Executing Dolphin as root is not possible." << std::endl;
+    // Check whether we are running with sudo (but allow using the root user directly)
+    if (getuid() == 0 && getenv("SUDO_USER")) {
+        std::cout << "Executing Dolphin with sudo is not possible due to unfixable security vulnerabilities." << std::endl;
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
     }
 #endif