diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index d78e575d..8a4d1dd1 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 11),
  fonts-open-sans <!nodoc>,
  graphviz <!nodoc>,
  latexmk <!nodoc>,
+ patchelf,
  pve-eslint (>= 7.12.1-1),
  python3-docutils,
  python3-pygments,
diff --git a/debian/debcargo.toml b/debian/debcargo.toml
index afb9ffa0..612b5e33 100644
--- a/debian/debcargo.toml
+++ b/debian/debcargo.toml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ build_depends = [
   "fonts-open-sans <!nodoc>",
   "graphviz <!nodoc>",
   "latexmk <!nodoc>",
+  "patchelf",
   "pve-eslint (>= 7.12.1-1)",
   "python3-docutils",
   "python3-pygments",
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 9012f82f..22671c0a 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -50,5 +50,12 @@ override_dh_fixperms:
 override_dh_dwz:
 	dh_dwz --no-dwz-multifile
 
+override_dh_strip:
+	dh_strip
+	for exe in $$(find debian/proxmox-backup-client/usr \
+	  debian/proxmox-backup-server/usr -executable -type f); do \
+	  debian/scripts/elf-strip-unused-dependencies.sh "$$exe" || true; \
+	done
+
 override_dh_compress:
 	dh_compress -X.pdf
diff --git a/debian/scripts/elf-strip-unused-dependencies.sh b/debian/scripts/elf-strip-unused-dependencies.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..9f89c09c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/scripts/elf-strip-unused-dependencies.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+binary=$1
+
+exec 3< <(ldd -u "$binary" | grep -oP '[^/:]+$')
+
+patchargs=""
+dropped=""
+while read -r dep; do
+    dropped="$dep $dropped"
+    patchargs="--remove-needed $dep $patchargs"
+done <&3
+exec 3<&-
+
+if [[ $dropped == "" ]]; then
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+echo -e "patchelf '$binary' - removing unused dependencies:\n $dropped"
+patchelf $patchargs $binary