diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 395a75127..67f4fb735 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ docker-tests: load-basic $(RUNTIME_BIN)
 
 overlay-tests: load-basic $(RUNTIME_BIN)
 	@$(call install_runtime,$(RUNTIME),--overlay)
-	@$(call test_runtime,$(RUNTIME),$(INTEGRATION_TARGETS))
+	@$(call test_runtime,$(RUNTIME),--test_env=TEST_OVERLAY=true $(INTEGRATION_TARGETS))
 .PHONY: overlay-tests
 
 swgso-tests: load-basic $(RUNTIME_BIN)
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ swgso-tests: load-basic $(RUNTIME_BIN)
 
 hostnet-tests: load-basic $(RUNTIME_BIN)
 	@$(call install_runtime,$(RUNTIME),--network=host)
-	@$(call test_runtime,$(RUNTIME),--test_env=CHECKPOINT=false  --test_env=HOSTNET=true $(INTEGRATION_TARGETS))
+	@$(call test_runtime,$(RUNTIME),--test_env=CHECKPOINT=false --test_env=HOSTNET=true $(INTEGRATION_TARGETS))
 .PHONY: hostnet-tests
 
 kvm-tests: load-basic $(RUNTIME_BIN)
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/gofer/special_file.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/gofer/special_file.go
index b92de4fc0..f10050cdc 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/gofer/special_file.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/gofer/special_file.go
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ type specialFileFD struct {
 func newSpecialFileFD(h handle, mnt *vfs.Mount, d *dentry, flags uint32) (*specialFileFD, error) {
 	ftype := d.fileType()
 	seekable := ftype == linux.S_IFREG || ftype == linux.S_IFCHR || ftype == linux.S_IFBLK
-	haveQueue := (ftype == linux.S_IFIFO || ftype == linux.S_IFSOCK) && h.fd >= 0
+	haveQueue := (ftype == linux.S_IFIFO || ftype == linux.S_IFSOCK || ftype == linux.S_IFCHR) && h.fd >= 0
 	fd := &specialFileFD{
 		handle:        h,
 		isRegularFile: ftype == linux.S_IFREG,
diff --git a/pkg/test/testutil/testutil.go b/pkg/test/testutil/testutil.go
index 5064b92d7..85e3b0f17 100644
--- a/pkg/test/testutil/testutil.go
+++ b/pkg/test/testutil/testutil.go
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ var (
 	totalPartitions      = flag.Int("total_partitions", IntFromEnv("TOTAL_PARTITIONS", 1), "total number of partitions")
 	isRunningWithHostNet = flag.Bool("hostnet", BoolFromEnv("HOSTNET", false), "whether test is running with hostnet")
 	runscPath            = flag.String("runsc", os.Getenv("RUNTIME"), "path to runsc binary")
+	// Note: flag overlay is already taken by runsc.
+	isRunningWithOverlay = flag.Bool("test-overlay", BoolFromEnv("TEST_OVERLAY", false), "whether test is running with --overlay")
 )
 
 // StringFromEnv returns the value of the named environment variable, or `def` if unset/empty.
@@ -119,6 +121,11 @@ func IsRunningWithHostNet() bool {
 	return *isRunningWithHostNet
 }
 
+// IsRunningWithOverlay returns the relevant command line flag.
+func IsRunningWithOverlay() bool {
+	return *isRunningWithOverlay
+}
+
 // ImageByName mangles the image name used locally. This depends on the image
 // build infrastructure in images/ and tools/vm.
 func ImageByName(name string) string {
diff --git a/runsc/fsgofer/fsgofer.go b/runsc/fsgofer/fsgofer.go
index d8ea60b0f..80c1e2a45 100644
--- a/runsc/fsgofer/fsgofer.go
+++ b/runsc/fsgofer/fsgofer.go
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ func openAnyFile(pathDebug string, fn func(mode int) (*fd.FD, error)) (*fd.FD, b
 
 func checkSupportedFileType(mode uint32, config *Config) error {
 	switch mode & unix.S_IFMT {
-	case unix.S_IFREG, unix.S_IFDIR, unix.S_IFLNK:
+	case unix.S_IFREG, unix.S_IFDIR, unix.S_IFLNK, unix.S_IFCHR:
 		return nil
 
 	case unix.S_IFSOCK:
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ func (l *localFile) Open(flags p9.OpenFlags) (*fd.FD, p9.QID, uint32, error) {
 		// Best effort to donate file to the Sentry (for performance only).
 		fd = newFDMaybe(newFile)
 
-	case unix.S_IFIFO:
+	case unix.S_IFIFO, unix.S_IFCHR:
 		// Character devices and pipes can block indefinitely during reads/writes,
 		// which is not allowed for gofer operations. Ensure that it donates an FD
 		// back to the caller, so it can wait on the FD when reads/writes return
diff --git a/runsc/fsgofer/lisafs.go b/runsc/fsgofer/lisafs.go
index 23739b7ec..31802bd6a 100644
--- a/runsc/fsgofer/lisafs.go
+++ b/runsc/fsgofer/lisafs.go
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ func (fd *controlFDLisa) Open(flags uint32) (*lisafs.OpenFD, int, error) {
 		// Best effort to donate file to the Sentry (for performance only).
 		hostOpenFD, _ = unix.Dup(openFD.hostFD)
 
-	case unix.S_IFIFO:
+	case unix.S_IFIFO, unix.S_IFCHR:
 		// Character devices and pipes can block indefinitely during reads/writes,
 		// which is not allowed for gofer operations. Ensure that it donates an FD
 		// back to the caller, so it can wait on the FD when reads/writes return
diff --git a/test/e2e/integration_test.go b/test/e2e/integration_test.go
index 8caf32eb8..a56b1cc5b 100644
--- a/test/e2e/integration_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/integration_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 package integration
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
@@ -997,3 +998,51 @@ func TestNonSearchableWorkingDirectory(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("ls error message not found, want: %q, got: %q", wantErrorMsg, got)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestCharDevice(t *testing.T) {
+	if testutil.IsRunningWithOverlay() {
+		t.Skip("files are not available outside the sandbox with overlay.")
+	}
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	d := dockerutil.MakeContainer(ctx, t)
+	defer d.CleanUp(ctx)
+
+	dir, err := os.MkdirTemp(testutil.TmpDir(), "tmp-mount")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("MkdirTemp() failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer os.RemoveAll(dir)
+
+	opts := dockerutil.RunOpts{
+		Image: "basic/alpine",
+		Mounts: []mount.Mount{
+			{
+				Type:   mount.TypeBind,
+				Source: "/dev/zero",
+				Target: "/test/zero",
+			},
+			{
+				Type:   mount.TypeBind,
+				Source: dir,
+				Target: "/out",
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	const size = 1024 * 1024
+
+	// `docker logs` encodes the string, making it hard to compare. Write the
+	// result to a file that is available to the test.
+	cmd := fmt.Sprintf("head -c %d /test/zero > /out/result", size)
+	if _, err := d.Run(ctx, opts, "sh", "-c", cmd); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("docker run failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "result"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if want := [size]byte{}; !bytes.Equal(want[:], got) {
+		t.Errorf("Wrong bytes, want: [all zeros], got: %v", got)
+	}
+}