diff --git a/tempest/api/volume/test_volume_metadata.py b/tempest/api/volume/test_volume_metadata.py
index ec732d1..7d2216d 100644
--- a/tempest/api/volume/test_volume_metadata.py
+++ b/tempest/api/volume/test_volume_metadata.py
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@
         # Create metadata for the volume
         metadata = {"key1": "value1",
                     "key2": "value2",
-                    "key3": "value3"}
+                    "key3": "value3",
+                    "key4": "<value&special_chars>"}
 
         rsp, body = self.volumes_client.create_volume_metadata(self.volume_id,
                                                                metadata)
@@ -59,6 +60,8 @@
         self.assertEqual(200, rsp.status)
         resp, body = self.volumes_client.get_volume_metadata(self.volume_id)
         self.assertNotIn("key1", body)
+        del metadata["key1"]
+        self.assertThat(body.items(), ContainsAll(metadata.items()))
 
     @test.attr(type='gate')
     def test_update_volume_metadata(self):
diff --git a/tempest/services/volume/xml/volumes_client.py b/tempest/services/volume/xml/volumes_client.py
index deb56fd..549e754 100644
--- a/tempest/services/volume/xml/volumes_client.py
+++ b/tempest/services/volume/xml/volumes_client.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import urllib
 
 from lxml import etree
+from xml.sax.saxutils import escape
 
 from tempest.common.rest_client import RestClientXML
 from tempest import config
@@ -361,7 +362,8 @@
         post_body = Element('metadata')
         for k, v in meta.items():
             data = Element('meta', key=k)
-            data.append(Text(v))
+            # Escape value to allow for special XML chars
+            data.append(Text(escape(v)))
             post_body.append(data)
         return post_body