diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/host/host.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/host/host.go
index 5087f13c1..c606050a2 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/host/host.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/host/host.go
@@ -108,11 +108,11 @@ type inode struct {
 	inodeRefs
 
 	// hostFD contains the host fd that this file was originally created from.
-	// It must be available at time of restore by being set to the same value or
-	// remapped using restoreKey and vfs.CtxRestoreFilesystemFDMap in the context.
+	// Upon restore, it must be remapped using restoreKey and vfs.CtxRestoreFilesystemFDMap
+	// from the restore context.
 	//
 	// This field is initialized at creation time and is immutable.
-	hostFD int
+	hostFD int `state:"nosave"`
 
 	// restoreKey is used to identify the `hostFD` after a restore is performed.
 	restoreKey vfs.RestoreID
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/host/save_restore.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/host/save_restore.go
index 3cf29b93a..c4845ed78 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/host/save_restore.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/host/save_restore.go
@@ -73,11 +73,10 @@ func (i *inode) beforeSave() {
 func (i *inode) afterLoad(ctx context.Context) {
 	fdmap := vfs.RestoreFilesystemFDMapFromContext(ctx)
 	fd, ok := fdmap[i.restoreKey]
-	if ok {
-		// Remap FD if a new mapping is provided. Otherwise, keep the old FD and
-		// expect that caller will use the same FDs numbers.
-		i.hostFD = fd
+	if !ok {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("no host FD available for %+v, map: %v", i.restoreKey, fdmap))
 	}
+	i.hostFD = fd
 
 	if i.epollable {
 		if err := unix.SetNonblock(i.hostFD, true); err != nil {