diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/3675-xattr-handle-base64-values.yml b/changelogs/fragments/3675-xattr-handle-base64-values.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e74a2afedd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/3675-xattr-handle-base64-values.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - xattr - fix exception caused by ``_run_xattr()`` raising a ``ValueError``
+    due to a mishandling of base64-encoded value (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues/3673).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/files/xattr.py b/plugins/modules/files/xattr.py
index f862dd720b..21d71170d1 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/files/xattr.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/files/xattr.py
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ def _run_xattr(module, cmd, check_rc=True):
         if line.startswith('#') or line == '':
             pass
         elif '=' in line:
-            (key, val) = line.split('=')
+            (key, val) = line.split('=', 1)
             result[key] = val.strip('"')
         else:
             result[line] = ''