diff --git a/lib/classes/lock/db_record_lock_factory.php b/lib/classes/lock/db_record_lock_factory.php
index dd2aa756774..83321d23d6d 100644
--- a/lib/classes/lock/db_record_lock_factory.php
+++ b/lib/classes/lock/db_record_lock_factory.php
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class db_record_lock_factory implements lock_factory {
      * to duplicates in a clustered environment (especially on VMs due to poor time precision).
      */
     protected function generate_unique_token() {
-        return generate_uuid();
+        return \core\uuid::generate();
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/lib/classes/uuid.php b/lib/classes/uuid.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b0984fa540c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/classes/uuid.php
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+<?php
+// This file is part of Moodle - http://moodle.org/
+//
+// Moodle is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// Moodle is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with Moodle.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+/**
+ * V4 UUID generator.
+ *
+ * @package    core
+ * @copyright  2019 Matteo Scaramuccia <moodle@matteoscaramuccia.com>
+ * @license    http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU GPL v3 or later
+ */
+
+namespace core;
+
+use Exception;
+
+defined('MOODLE_INTERNAL') || die();
+
+/**
+ * V4 UUID generator class.
+ *
+ * @package    core
+ * @copyright  2019 Matteo Scaramuccia <moodle@matteoscaramuccia.com>
+ * @license    http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU GPL v3 or later
+ */
+class uuid {
+    /**
+     * Generate a V4 UUID using PECL UUID extension.
+     * @see https://github.com/php/pecl-networking-uuid PECL uuid
+     * @see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122
+     *
+     * @return string|bool The UUID when PECL UUID extension is available;
+     *                     otherwise, false.
+     */
+    protected static function generate_uuid_via_pecl_uuid_extension() {
+        $uuid = false;
+
+        // Check if PECL uuid extension has been actually installed.
+        if (function_exists('\uuid_time')) {
+            // Set V4 version.
+            $uuid = \uuid_create(UUID_TYPE_RANDOM);
+        }
+
+        return $uuid;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Generate a V4 UUID using PHP 7+ features.
+     *
+     * @see https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.random-bytes.php
+     * @see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122
+     *
+     * @return string|bool The UUID when random_bytes() function is available;
+     *                     otherwise, false when missing the sources of randomness used by random_bytes().
+     */
+    protected static function generate_uuid_via_random_bytes() {
+        $uuid = false;
+
+        // If none of the sources of randomness are available,
+        // then an Exception will be thrown.
+        try {
+            $data = random_bytes(16);
+            $data[6] = chr((ord($data[6]) & 0x0f) | 0x40); // Set version to 0100.
+            $data[8] = chr((ord($data[8]) & 0x3f) | 0x80); // Set bits 6-7 to 10.
+            $uuid = vsprintf('%s%s-%s-%s-%s-%s%s%s', str_split(bin2hex($data), 4));
+        } catch (Exception $e) {
+            // Could not generate a random string. Is this OS secure?
+            $uuid = false;
+        }
+
+        return $uuid;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Generate a V4 UUID.
+     *
+     * Unique is hard. Very hard. Attempt to use the PECL UUID function if available, and if not then revert to
+     * constructing the uuid using random_bytes or mt_rand.
+     *
+     * It is important that this token is not solely based on time as this could lead
+     * to duplicates in a clustered environment (especially on VMs due to poor time precision).
+     *
+     * UUIDs are just 128 bits long but with different supported versions (RFC 4122), mainly two:
+     * - V1: the goal is uniqueness, at the cost of anonymity since it is coupled to the host generating it, via its MAC address.
+     * - V4: the goal is randomness, at the cost of (rare) collisions.
+     * Here, the V4 type is the preferred choice.
+     *
+     * The format is:
+     * xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-Yxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
+     * where x is any hexadecimal digit and Y is a random choice from 8, 9, a, or b.
+     *
+     * @see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122
+     *
+     * @return string The V4 UUID.
+     */
+    public static function generate() {
+        // Try PHP UUID extensions first.
+        $uuid = self::generate_uuid_via_pecl_uuid_extension();
+
+        // Fall back to better random features, when possible.
+        if (empty($uuid)) {
+            $uuid = self::generate_uuid_via_random_bytes();
+        }
+
+        // Finally, create it with the available randomness.
+        if (empty($uuid)) {
+            // Fallback uuid generation based on:
+            // "http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.uniqid.php#94959".
+            $uuid = sprintf('%04x%04x-%04x-%04x-%04x-%04x%04x%04x',
+
+                // 32 bits for "time_low".
+                mt_rand(0, 0xffff), mt_rand(0, 0xffff),
+
+                // 16 bits for "time_mid".
+                mt_rand(0, 0xffff),
+
+                // 16 bits for "time_hi_and_version",
+                // four most significant bits holds version number 4.
+                mt_rand(0, 0x0fff) | 0x4000,
+
+                // 16 bits, 8 bits for "clk_seq_hi_res",
+                // 8 bits for "clk_seq_low",
+                // two most significant bits holds zero and one for variant DCE1.1.
+                mt_rand(0, 0x3fff) | 0x8000,
+
+                // 48 bits for "node".
+                mt_rand(0, 0xffff), mt_rand(0, 0xffff), mt_rand(0, 0xffff));
+        }
+
+        return trim($uuid);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/lib/setuplib.php b/lib/setuplib.php
index c7b74efe243..5db32cec958 100644
--- a/lib/setuplib.php
+++ b/lib/setuplib.php
@@ -610,49 +610,24 @@ function get_exception_info($ex) {
 }
 
 /**
- * Generate a uuid.
+ * Generate a V4 UUID.
  *
- * Unique is hard. Very hard. Attempt to use the PECL UUID functions if available, and if not then revert to
+ * Unique is hard. Very hard. Attempt to use the PECL UUID function if available, and if not then revert to
  * constructing the uuid using mt_rand.
  *
  * It is important that this token is not solely based on time as this could lead
  * to duplicates in a clustered environment (especially on VMs due to poor time precision).
  *
+ * @see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122
+ *
+ * @deprecated since Moodle 3.8 MDL-61038 - please do not use this function any more.
+ * @see \core\uuid::generate()
+ *
  * @return string The uuid.
  */
 function generate_uuid() {
-    $uuid = '';
-
-    if (function_exists("uuid_create")) {
-        $context = null;
-        uuid_create($context);
-
-        uuid_make($context, UUID_MAKE_V4);
-        uuid_export($context, UUID_FMT_STR, $uuid);
-    } else {
-        // Fallback uuid generation based on:
-        // "http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.uniqid.php#94959".
-        $uuid = sprintf('%04x%04x-%04x-%04x-%04x-%04x%04x%04x',
-
-            // 32 bits for "time_low".
-            mt_rand(0, 0xffff), mt_rand(0, 0xffff),
-
-            // 16 bits for "time_mid".
-            mt_rand(0, 0xffff),
-
-            // 16 bits for "time_hi_and_version",
-            // four most significant bits holds version number 4.
-            mt_rand(0, 0x0fff) | 0x4000,
-
-            // 16 bits, 8 bits for "clk_seq_hi_res",
-            // 8 bits for "clk_seq_low",
-            // two most significant bits holds zero and one for variant DCE1.1.
-            mt_rand(0, 0x3fff) | 0x8000,
-
-            // 48 bits for "node".
-            mt_rand(0, 0xffff), mt_rand(0, 0xffff), mt_rand(0, 0xffff));
-    }
-    return trim($uuid);
+    debugging('generate_uuid() is deprecated. Please use \core\uuid::generate() instead.', DEBUG_DEVELOPER);
+    return \core\uuid::generate();
 }
 
 /**
@@ -1513,7 +1488,7 @@ function make_unique_writable_directory($basedir, $exceptiononerror = true) {
 
     do {
         // Generate a new (hopefully unique) directory name.
-        $uniquedir = $basedir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . generate_uuid();
+        $uniquedir = $basedir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . \core\uuid::generate();
     } while (
             // Ensure that basedir is still writable - if we do not check, we could get stuck in a loop here.
             is_writable($basedir) &&
diff --git a/lib/tests/setuplib_test.php b/lib/tests/setuplib_test.php
index e38124e6ad7..6e3ce5bd19e 100644
--- a/lib/tests/setuplib_test.php
+++ b/lib/tests/setuplib_test.php
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 
 defined('MOODLE_INTERNAL') || die();
 
-
 /**
  * Unit tests for setuplib.php
  *
@@ -476,4 +475,65 @@ class core_setuplib_testcase extends advanced_testcase {
     public function test_get_real_size($input, $expectedbytes) {
         $this->assertEquals($expectedbytes, get_real_size($input));
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Validate the given V4 UUID.
+     *
+     * @param string $value The candidate V4 UUID
+     * @return bool True if valid; otherwise, false.
+     */
+    protected static function is_valid_uuid_v4($value) {
+        // Version 4 UUIDs have the form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-Yxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
+        // where x is any hexadecimal digit and Y is one of 8, 9, aA, or bB.
+        // First, the size is 36 (32 + 4 dashes).
+        if (strlen($value) != 36) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        // Finally, check the format.
+        $uuidv4pattern = '/^[0-9A-F]{8}-[0-9A-F]{4}-4[0-9A-F]{3}-[89AB][0-9A-F]{3}-[0-9A-F]{12}$/i';
+        return (preg_match($uuidv4pattern, $value) === 1);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test the \core\uuid::generate_uuid_via_pecl_uuid_extension() function.
+     */
+    public function test_core_uuid_generate_uuid_via_pecl_uuid_extension() {
+        if (!extension_loaded('uuid')) {
+            $this->markTestSkipped("PHP 'uuid' extension not loaded.");
+        }
+        if (!function_exists('uuid_time')) {
+            $this->markTestSkipped("PHP PECL 'uuid' extension not loaded.");
+        }
+
+        // The \core\uuid::generate_uuid_via_pecl_uuid_extension static method is protected. Use Reflection to call the method.
+        $method = new ReflectionMethod('\core\uuid', 'generate_uuid_via_pecl_uuid_extension');
+        $method->setAccessible(true);
+        $uuid = $method->invoke(null);
+        $this->assertTrue(self::is_valid_uuid_v4($uuid), "Invalid v4 uuid: '$uuid'");
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test the \core\uuid::generate_uuid_via_random_bytes() function.
+     */
+    public function test_core_uuid_generate_uuid_via_random_bytes() {
+        try {
+            random_bytes(1);
+        } catch (Exception $e) {
+            $this->markTestSkipped('No source of entropy for random_bytes. ' . $e->getMessage());
+        }
+
+        // The \core\uuid::generate_uuid_via_random_bytes static method is protected. Use Reflection to call the method.
+        $method = new ReflectionMethod('\core\uuid', 'generate_uuid_via_random_bytes');
+        $method->setAccessible(true);
+        $uuid = $method->invoke(null);
+        $this->assertTrue(self::is_valid_uuid_v4($uuid), "Invalid v4 uuid: '$uuid'");
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test the \core\uuid::generate() function.
+     */
+    public function test_core_uuid_generate() {
+        $uuid = \core\uuid::generate();
+        $this->assertTrue(self::is_valid_uuid_v4($uuid), "Invalid v4 UUID: '$uuid'");
+    }
 }
diff --git a/lib/upgrade.txt b/lib/upgrade.txt
index 631f3e6b893..e326b88abd1 100644
--- a/lib/upgrade.txt
+++ b/lib/upgrade.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ information provided here is intended especially for developers.
 
 === 3.8 ===
 * The yui checknet module is removed. Call \core\session\manager::keepalive instead.
+* The generate_uuid() function has been deprecated. Please use \core\uuid::generate() instead.
 
 === 3.7 ===
 * Nodes in the navigation api can have labels for each group. See set/get_collectionlabel().