diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/plasma-5/kde-cli-tools.nix b/pkgs/desktops/plasma-5/kde-cli-tools.nix
index 03efc42fe26..d84b7bc9801 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/plasma-5/kde-cli-tools.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/plasma-5/kde-cli-tools.nix
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ mkDerivation {
     kcmutils kconfig kdesu ki18n kiconthemes kinit kio kwindowsystem qtsvg
     qtx11extras kactivities plasma-workspace
   ];
+  postInstall = ''
+    # install a symlink in bin so that kdesu can eventually be found in PATH
+    mkdir -p $out/bin
+    ln -s $out/libexec/kf5/kdesu $out/bin
+  '';
   dontWrapQtApps = true;
   preFixup = ''
     for program in $out/bin/*; do