diff --git a/pkg/sentry/syscalls/linux/sys_mempolicy.go b/pkg/sentry/syscalls/linux/sys_mempolicy.go
index 6e7bcb868..841383c47 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/syscalls/linux/sys_mempolicy.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/syscalls/linux/sys_mempolicy.go
@@ -294,16 +294,20 @@ func copyInMempolicyNodemask(t *kernel.Task, modeWithFlags linux.NumaPolicy, nod
 		}
 	case linux.MPOL_PREFERRED:
 		// This permits an empty nodemask, as long as no flags are set.
-		if nodemaskVal == 0 && flags != 0 {
-			return 0, 0, linuxerr.EINVAL
+		if nodemaskVal == 0 {
+			if flags != 0 {
+				return 0, 0, linuxerr.EINVAL
+			}
+			// On newer Linux versions, MPOL_PREFERRED is implemented as MPOL_LOCAL
+			// when node set is empty. See 7858d7bca7fb ("mm/mempolicy: don't handle
+			// MPOL_LOCAL like a fake MPOL_PREFERRED policy").
+			mode = linux.MPOL_LOCAL
 		}
 	case linux.MPOL_LOCAL:
-		// This requires an empty nodemask and no flags set ...
+		// This requires an empty nodemask and no flags set.
 		if nodemaskVal != 0 || flags != 0 {
 			return 0, 0, linuxerr.EINVAL
 		}
-		// ... and is implemented as MPOL_PREFERRED.
-		mode = linux.MPOL_PREFERRED
 	default:
 		// Unknown mode, which we should have rejected above.
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unknown mode: %v", mode))
diff --git a/test/syscalls/linux/mempolicy.cc b/test/syscalls/linux/mempolicy.cc
index 059fad598..fa8e5fcda 100644
--- a/test/syscalls/linux/mempolicy.cc
+++ b/test/syscalls/linux/mempolicy.cc
@@ -260,9 +260,11 @@ TEST(MempolicyTest, GetMempolicyNextInterleaveNode) {
 }
 
 TEST(MempolicyTest, Mbind) {
+  uint64_t nodemask = 0x1;
   // Temporarily set the thread policy to MPOL_PREFERRED.
   const auto cleanup_thread_policy =
-      ASSERT_NO_ERRNO_AND_VALUE(ScopedSetMempolicy(MPOL_PREFERRED, nullptr, 0));
+      ASSERT_NO_ERRNO_AND_VALUE(ScopedSetMempolicy(
+          MPOL_PREFERRED, &nodemask, sizeof(nodemask) * BITS_PER_BYTE));
 
   const auto mapping = ASSERT_NO_ERRNO_AND_VALUE(
       MmapAnon(kPageSize, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS));
@@ -274,10 +276,12 @@ TEST(MempolicyTest, Mbind) {
               SyscallSucceeds());
   EXPECT_EQ(mode, MPOL_DEFAULT);
 
-  // Set MPOL_PREFERRED for the vma and read it back.
-  ASSERT_THAT(
-      mbind(mapping.ptr(), mapping.len(), MPOL_PREFERRED, nullptr, 0, 0),
-      SyscallSucceeds());
+  // Set MPOL_PREFERRED for the vma and read it back. Note that setting
+  // MPOL_PREFERRED with an empty node set will set mode to MPOL_LOCAL on newer
+  // Linux releases.
+  ASSERT_THAT(mbind(mapping.ptr(), mapping.len(), MPOL_PREFERRED, &nodemask,
+                    sizeof(nodemask) * BITS_PER_BYTE, 0),
+              SyscallSucceeds());
   ASSERT_THAT(get_mempolicy(&mode, nullptr, 0, mapping.ptr(), MPOL_F_ADDR),
               SyscallSucceeds());
   EXPECT_EQ(mode, MPOL_PREFERRED);