diff --git a/pkg/test/dockerutil/container.go b/pkg/test/dockerutil/container.go
index 9230a0140..39f0cd2ea 100644
--- a/pkg/test/dockerutil/container.go
+++ b/pkg/test/dockerutil/container.go
@@ -207,11 +207,13 @@ func (c *Container) Run(ctx context.Context, r RunOpts, args ...string) (string,
 	}
 
 	if err := c.Start(ctx); err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		logs, _ := c.Logs(ctx)
+		return logs, err
 	}
 
 	if err := c.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		logs, _ := c.Logs(ctx)
+		return logs, err
 	}
 
 	return c.Logs(ctx)
diff --git a/pkg/test/dockerutil/dockerutil.go b/pkg/test/dockerutil/dockerutil.go
index 4e0509af3..c8710e786 100644
--- a/pkg/test/dockerutil/dockerutil.go
+++ b/pkg/test/dockerutil/dockerutil.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 package dockerutil
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
+	"testing"
 	"time"
 
 	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/test/testutil"
@@ -122,6 +124,19 @@ func RuntimePath() (string, error) {
 	return p, nil
 }
 
+// IsGVisorRuntime returns whether the default container runtime used by
+// `dockerutil` is gVisor-based or not.
+func IsGVisorRuntime(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T) (bool, error) {
+	output, err := MakeContainer(ctx, t).Run(ctx, RunOpts{Image: "basic/alpine"}, "dmesg")
+	if err != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(output, "dmesg: klogctl: Operation not permitted") {
+			return false, nil
+		}
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to run dmesg: %v (output: %q)", err, output)
+	}
+	return strings.Contains(output, "gVisor"), nil
+}
+
 // UsingSystemdCgroup returns true if the docker configuration has the
 // native.cgroupdriver=systemd option set in "exec-opts", or if the
 // system is using cgroupv2, in which case systemd is the default driver.