diff --git a/sys/cxx_ctor_guards/Makefile b/sys/cxx_ctor_guards/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..48422e909a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys/cxx_ctor_guards/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.base
diff --git a/sys/cxx_ctor_guards/cxa_guard.c b/sys/cxx_ctor_guards/cxa_guard.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..56e35b0dd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys/cxx_ctor_guards/cxa_guard.c
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2020 Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg
+ *
+ * This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU Lesser
+ * General Public License v2.1. See the file LICENSE in the top level
+ * directory for more details.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @ingroup     sys_cxx_ctor_guards
+ * @{
+ *
+ * @file
+ * @brief       Implementation of the C++ ctor guards
+ *
+ * @author      Marian Buschsieweke <marian.buschsieweke@ovgu.de>
+ */
+
+#include "test_utils/expect.h"
+#include "rmutex.h"
+
+#ifdef CXX_CTOR_GUARDS_CUSTOM_TYPE
+/* Some architectures (such as ARM) have custom types for __guard in their
+ * ABI defined. To support such cases, a custom header can be provided and
+ * `CXX_CTOR_GUARDS_CUSTOM_TYPE` can be defined */
+#include "cxx_ctor_guards_arch.h"
+#else
+/* The ABI for"generic" CPUs defines __guard as follows:
+ * (see "libstdc++-v3/config/cpu/generic/cxxabi_tweaks.h" in GCC source) */
+__extension__ typedef int __guard __attribute__((mode(__DI__)));
+/* Above is just a fancy version of `typedef int64_t __guard`. But let's stick
+ * with the official type definition */
+#endif
+
+#define GUARD_DONE      0x01
+#define GUARD_PENDING   0x02
+
+/* A recursive mutex is needed, as the initialization of a static class could
+ * require calling ctors of members of that class. With a regular mutex, this
+ * would result in a deadlock.
+ */
+static rmutex_t cxa_rmutex = RMUTEX_INIT;
+
+int __cxa_guard_acquire(__guard *g)
+{
+    uint8_t *guard = (uint8_t *)g;
+    /* Optimize for the case that the instance is already initialized by
+     * doing a lock-free check. */
+    if (__atomic_load_1(guard, __ATOMIC_SEQ_CST) & GUARD_DONE) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    rmutex_lock(&cxa_rmutex);
+    /* Check again (this time protected by the rmutex) for the instance being
+     * already initialized */
+    if (*guard & GUARD_DONE) {
+        rmutex_unlock(&cxa_rmutex);
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    if (*guard & GUARD_PENDING) {
+        /* Recursive initialization of the *same* instance --> bug */
+        expect(0);
+    }
+
+    *guard = GUARD_PENDING;
+    return 1;
+}
+
+void __cxa_guard_release(__guard *g)
+{
+    uint8_t *guard = (uint8_t *)g;
+    *guard = GUARD_DONE;
+    rmutex_unlock(&cxa_rmutex);
+}
+
+void __cxa_guard_abort(__guard *g)
+{
+    uint8_t *guard = (uint8_t *)g;
+    *guard = 0;
+    rmutex_unlock(&cxa_rmutex);
+}
diff --git a/sys/cxx_ctor_guards/doc.txt b/sys/cxx_ctor_guards/doc.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e75d17f37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys/cxx_ctor_guards/doc.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/**
+@defgroup   sys_cxx_ctor_guards     C++ constructor guards for static instances
+@ingroup    sys
+@brief      C++ constructor guards for thread-safe initialization of static
+            instances
+
+@warning    This implementation is likely only compatible with `g++`
+
+# Introduction
+
+The libstd++ ABI requires implementations of the following functions:
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{.c}
+int __cxa_guard_acquire(__guard *g);
+void __cxa_guard_release(__guard *g);
+void __cxa_guard_abort(__guard *g);
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+These functions are not intended to be ever used by the programmer, instead
+the C++ compiler will emit code calling them if statically allocated class
+instances are used. In a multi-threaded environment special care needs to be
+taken to prevent race conditions while initializing and using such instances.
+This modules provides them.
+
+# Usage
+
+This module is intended to be used by platforms that want to provide C++
+support, but the used standard C++ library does not provide these guards. In
+this case, adding this module will do the trick. The programmer / user should
+never interact with any of the functions.
+
+Note that on some platforms the type `__guard` is defined differently from the
+"generic" definition, most notably ARM. For those platforms a header named
+`cxx_ctor_guards_arch.h` needs to be created containing the correct `typedef`
+and the preprocessor macro `CXX_CTOR_GUARDS_CUSTOM_TYPE` needs to be defined.
+
+# Implementation
+
+This implementation provides the C++ ctor guards as defined by the libstd++ ABI
+used in g++. It will likely not be compatible with other implementations of
+libstd++.
+
+The libstd++ ABI expects the functions to be implemented as C functions. Most
+implementations will put the code into C++ files and wrap everything into an
+`extern "C" {...}`. This implementation will just use a plain C file for less
+boilerplate.
+
+The implementation intentionally makes only use of a single byte of the
+`__guard` type. This should result in the implementation being usable on any
+platform, regardless of the actual size of `__guard`.
+ */