diff --git a/docs/working.md b/docs/working.md
index 71eb29d950..2dce7e9bb2 100644
--- a/docs/working.md
+++ b/docs/working.md
@@ -164,9 +164,6 @@ allowing you to directly execute binaries from there.  You can also use e.g.
 `rpm-ostree usroverlay` and then copy binaries from your host `/run/workdir` into
 the VM's rootfs.
 
-(This currently only works on Fedora CoreOS which ships `9p`, not RHCOS.  A future version
- will use https://virtio-fs.gitlab.io/ )
-
 ## Using host binaries
 
 Another related trick is:
diff --git a/mantle/cmd/kola/qemuexec.go b/mantle/cmd/kola/qemuexec.go
index 66b0cf8133..658d9687e9 100644
--- a/mantle/cmd/kola/qemuexec.go
+++ b/mantle/cmd/kola/qemuexec.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
-	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -91,7 +90,7 @@ func init() {
 	cmdQemuExec.Flags().BoolVarP(&devshellConsole, "devshell-console", "c", false, "Connect directly to serial console in devshell mode")
 	cmdQemuExec.Flags().StringVarP(&ignition, "ignition", "i", "", "Path to Ignition config")
 	cmdQemuExec.Flags().StringVarP(&butane, "butane", "B", "", "Path to Butane config")
-	cmdQemuExec.Flags().StringArrayVar(&bindro, "bind-ro", nil, "Mount readonly via 9pfs a host directory (use --bind-ro=/path/to/host,/var/mnt/guest")
+	cmdQemuExec.Flags().StringArrayVar(&bindro, "bind-ro", nil, "Mount readonly via virtiofs a host directory (use --bind-ro=/path/to/host,/var/mnt/guest")
 	cmdQemuExec.Flags().StringArrayVar(&bindrw, "bind-rw", nil, "Same as above, but writable")
 	cmdQemuExec.Flags().BoolVarP(&forceConfigInjection, "inject-ignition", "", false, "Force injecting Ignition config using guestfs")
 	cmdQemuExec.Flags().BoolVar(&propagateInitramfsFailure, "propagate-initramfs-failure", false, "Error out if the system fails in the initramfs")
@@ -178,14 +177,11 @@ func runQemuExec(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		ignitionFragments = append(ignitionFragments, "autologin")
 		cpuCountHost = true
 		usernet = true
-		// Can't use 9p on RHEL8, need https://virtio-fs.gitlab.io/ instead in the future
-		if kola.Options.CosaWorkdir != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(filepath.Base(kola.QEMUOptions.DiskImage), "rhcos") && !strings.HasPrefix(filepath.Base(kola.QEMUOptions.DiskImage), "scos") && kola.Options.Distribution != "rhcos" && kola.Options.Distribution != "scos" {
-			// Conservatively bind readonly to avoid anything in the guest (stray tests, whatever)
-			// from destroying stuff
-			bindro = append(bindro, fmt.Sprintf("%s,/var/mnt/workdir", kola.Options.CosaWorkdir))
-			// But provide the tempdir so it's easy to pass stuff back
-			bindrw = append(bindrw, fmt.Sprintf("%s,/var/mnt/workdir-tmp", kola.Options.CosaWorkdir+"/tmp"))
-		}
+		// Conservatively bind readonly to avoid anything in the guest (stray tests, whatever)
+		// from destroying stuff
+		bindro = append(bindro, fmt.Sprintf("%s,/var/mnt/workdir", kola.Options.CosaWorkdir))
+		// But provide the tempdir so it's easy to pass stuff back
+		bindrw = append(bindrw, fmt.Sprintf("%s,/var/mnt/workdir-tmp", kola.Options.CosaWorkdir+"/tmp"))
 		if hostname == "" {
 			hostname = devshellHostname
 		}
@@ -261,18 +257,18 @@ func runQemuExec(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		builder.Mount9p(src, dest, true)
+		builder.MountVirtiofs(src, dest)
 		ensureConfig()
-		config.Mount9p(dest, true)
+		config.MountVirtiofs(dest, true)
 	}
 	for _, b := range bindrw {
 		src, dest, err := parseBindOpt(b)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		builder.Mount9p(src, dest, false)
+		builder.MountVirtiofs(src, dest)
 		ensureConfig()
-		config.Mount9p(dest, false)
+		config.MountVirtiofs(dest, false)
 	}
 	builder.ForceConfigInjection = forceConfigInjection
 	if len(firstbootkargs) > 0 {
diff --git a/mantle/platform/conf/conf.go b/mantle/platform/conf/conf.go
index 3070e65a3a..13a24636b5 100644
--- a/mantle/platform/conf/conf.go
+++ b/mantle/platform/conf/conf.go
@@ -1362,11 +1362,11 @@ resize_terminal() {
 PROMPT_COMMAND+=(resize_terminal)`, 0644)
 }
 
-// Mount9p adds an Ignition config to mount an folder with 9p
-func (c *Conf) Mount9p(dest string, readonly bool) {
+// MountVirtiofs adds an Ignition config to mount an folder with 9p
+func (c *Conf) MountVirtiofs(dest string, readonly bool) {
 	readonlyStr := ""
 	if readonly {
-		readonlyStr = ",ro"
+		readonlyStr = "ro"
 	}
 	content := fmt.Sprintf(`[Unit]
 DefaultDependencies=no
@@ -1375,8 +1375,8 @@ Before=basic.target
 [Mount]
 What=%s
 Where=%s
-Type=9p
-Options=trans=virtio,version=9p2000.L%s,msize=10485760
+Type=virtiofs
+Options=%s
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
 `, dest, dest, readonlyStr)
diff --git a/mantle/platform/qemu.go b/mantle/platform/qemu.go
index 305c76049a..a54602f4d7 100644
--- a/mantle/platform/qemu.go
+++ b/mantle/platform/qemu.go
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 // Why not libvirt?
 // Two main reasons.  First, we really do want to use qemu, and not
 // something else.  We rely on qemu features/APIs and there's a general
-// assumption that the qemu process is local (e.g. we expose 9p filesystem
+// assumption that the qemu process is local (e.g. we expose virtiofs filesystem
 // sharing).  Second, libvirt runs as a daemon, but we want the
 // VMs "lifecycle bound" to their creating process (e.g. kola),
 // so that e.g. Ctrl-C (SIGINT) kills both reliably.
@@ -154,11 +154,12 @@ type bootIso struct {
 
 // QemuInstance holds an instantiated VM through its lifecycle.
 type QemuInstance struct {
-	qemu               exec.Cmd
-	architecture       string
-	tempdir            string
-	swtpm              exec.Cmd
-	nbdServers         []exec.Cmd
+	qemu         exec.Cmd
+	architecture string
+	tempdir      string
+	swtpm        exec.Cmd
+	// Helpers are child processes such as nbd or virtiofsd that should be lifecycle bound to qemu
+	helpers            []exec.Cmd
 	hostForwardedPorts []HostForwardPort
 
 	journalPipe *os.File
@@ -296,12 +297,12 @@ func (inst *QemuInstance) Destroy() {
 		inst.swtpm.Kill() //nolint // Ignore errors
 		inst.swtpm = nil
 	}
-	for _, nbdServ := range inst.nbdServers {
-		if nbdServ != nil {
-			nbdServ.Kill() //nolint // Ignore errors
+	for _, p := range inst.helpers {
+		if p != nil {
+			p.Kill() //nolint // Ignore errors
 		}
 	}
-	inst.nbdServers = nil
+	inst.helpers = nil
 
 	if inst.tempdir != "" {
 		if err := os.RemoveAll(inst.tempdir); err != nil {
@@ -430,6 +431,11 @@ func (inst *QemuInstance) RemovePrimaryBlockDevice() (err2 error) {
 	return nil
 }
 
+type VirtiofsMount struct {
+	src string
+	tag string
+}
+
 // QemuBuilder is a configurator that can then create a qemu instance
 type QemuBuilder struct {
 	// ConfigFile is a path to Ignition configuration
@@ -486,7 +492,8 @@ type QemuBuilder struct {
 	finalized bool
 	diskID    uint
 	disks     []*Disk
-	fs9pID    uint
+	// virtiofs is an array of virtiofs mounts
+	virtiofs []VirtiofsMount
 	// virtioSerialID is incremented for each device
 	virtioSerialID uint
 	// fds is file descriptors we own to pass to qemu
@@ -711,16 +718,10 @@ func (builder *QemuBuilder) encryptIgnitionConfig() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// Mount9p sets up a mount point from the host to guest.  To be replaced
-// with https://virtio-fs.gitlab.io/ once it lands everywhere.
-func (builder *QemuBuilder) Mount9p(source, destHint string, readonly bool) {
-	builder.fs9pID++
-	readonlyStr := ""
-	if readonly {
-		readonlyStr = ",readonly=on"
-	}
-	builder.Append("--fsdev", fmt.Sprintf("local,id=fs%d,path=%s,security_model=mapped%s", builder.fs9pID, source, readonlyStr))
-	builder.Append("-device", virtio(builder.architecture, "9p", fmt.Sprintf("fsdev=fs%d,mount_tag=%s", builder.fs9pID, destHint)))
+// MountVirtiofs sets up a mount point from the host to guest.
+// Note that virtiofs does not currently support read-only mounts (which is really surprising!)
+func (builder *QemuBuilder) MountVirtiofs(source, dest string) {
+	builder.virtiofs = append(builder.virtiofs, VirtiofsMount{src: source, tag: dest})
 }
 
 // supportsFwCfg if the target system supports injecting
@@ -1636,7 +1637,7 @@ func (builder *QemuBuilder) Exec() (*QemuInstance, error) {
 			if err := cmd.Start(); err != nil {
 				return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "spawing nbd server")
 			}
-			inst.nbdServers = append(inst.nbdServers, cmd)
+			inst.helpers = append(inst.helpers, cmd)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -1716,6 +1717,31 @@ func (builder *QemuBuilder) Exec() (*QemuInstance, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	// Process virtiofs mounts
+	if len(builder.virtiofs) > 0 {
+		if err := builder.ensureTempdir(); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
+		// Allocate a shared memory object and set up NUMA, which is needed for virtiofs
+		builder.Append("-object", fmt.Sprintf("memory-backend-file,id=mem,size=%dM,mem-path=/dev/shm,share=on", builder.Memory), "-numa", "node,memdev=mem")
+
+		// We assume we're already running in a container
+		isolation := "none"
+
+		for i, virtiofs := range builder.virtiofs {
+			virtiofsChar := fmt.Sprintf("virtiofschar%d", i)
+			virtiofsdSocket := filepath.Join(builder.tempdir, fmt.Sprintf("virtiofsd-%d.sock", i))
+			builder.Append("-chardev", fmt.Sprintf("socket,id=%s,path=%s", virtiofsChar, virtiofsdSocket))
+			builder.Append("-device", fmt.Sprintf("vhost-user-fs-pci,queue-size=1024,chardev=%s,tag=%s", virtiofsChar, virtiofs.tag))
+			p := exec.Command("/usr/libexec/virtiofsd", "--sandbox", isolation, "--socket-path", virtiofsdSocket, "--shared-dir", virtiofs.src)
+			if err := p.Start(); err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to start virtiofsd")
+			}
+			inst.helpers = append(inst.helpers, p)
+		}
+	}
+
 	fdnum := 3 // first additional file starts at position 3
 	for i := range builder.fds {
 		fdset := i + 1 // Start at 1
diff --git a/src/buildextend-legacy-oscontainer.sh b/src/buildextend-legacy-oscontainer.sh
index 368a6f7b9e..fbb86a4058 100755
--- a/src/buildextend-legacy-oscontainer.sh
+++ b/src/buildextend-legacy-oscontainer.sh
@@ -5,10 +5,6 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 # Start VM and call buildah
 final_outfile=$(realpath "$1"); shift
-if [ "$(uname -m)" == 'ppc64le' ]; then
-    # helps with 9p 'cannot allocate memory' errors on ppc64le
-    COSA_SUPERMIN_MEMORY=6144
-fi
 IMAGE_TYPE=legacy-oscontainer
 prepare_build
 tmp_outfile=${tmp_builddir}/legacy-oscontainer.ociarchive
diff --git a/src/cmd-buildextend-metal b/src/cmd-buildextend-metal
index c376c07b5b..c62c2bade3 100755
--- a/src/cmd-buildextend-metal
+++ b/src/cmd-buildextend-metal
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ if jq -re '.["deploy-via-container"]' < "${image_json}"; then
     deploy_via_container="true"
 fi
 container_imgref=$(jq -r '.["container-imgref"]//""' < "${image_json}")
-# Nowadays we pull the container across 9p rather than accessing the repo, see
+# Nowadays we pull the container across virtiofs rather than accessing the repo, see
 # https://github.com/openshift/os/issues/594
 ostree_container=ostree-unverified-image:oci-archive:$builddir/$(meta_key images.ostree.path)
 
diff --git a/src/cmd-run b/src/cmd-run
index a26b4325a2..2351516049 100755
--- a/src/cmd-run
+++ b/src/cmd-run
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 # You can exit via either exiting the login session cleanly
 # in SSH (ctrl-d/exit in bash), or via `poweroff`.
 #
-# If 9p is available and this is started from a coreos-assembler
+# If this is started from a coreos-assembler
 # working directory, the build directory will be mounted readonly
 # at /var/mnt/workdir, and the tmp/ directory will be read *write*
 # at /var/mnt/workdir-tmp.  This allows you to easily exchange
diff --git a/src/cmdlib.sh b/src/cmdlib.sh
index 3eb82b2542..7692e6fe5e 100755
--- a/src/cmdlib.sh
+++ b/src/cmdlib.sh
@@ -676,7 +676,7 @@ meta_key() {
 }
 
 # runvm generates and runs a minimal VM which we use to "bootstrap" our build
-# process.  It mounts the workdir via 9p.  If you need to add new packages into
+# process.  It mounts the workdir via virtiofs.  If you need to add new packages into
 # the vm, update `vmdeps.txt`.
 # If you need to debug it, one trick is to change the `-serial file` below
 # into `-serial stdio`, drop the <&- and virtio-serial stuff and then e.g. add
@@ -790,28 +790,16 @@ EOF
     esac
 
     kola_args=(kola qemuexec -m "${COSA_SUPERMIN_MEMORY:-${memory_default}}" --auto-cpus -U --workdir none \
-               --console-to-file "${runvm_console}")
+               --console-to-file "${runvm_console}" --bind-rw "${workdir},workdir")
 
     base_qemu_args=(-drive 'if=none,id=root,format=raw,snapshot=on,file='"${vmbuilddir}"'/root,index=1' \
                     -device 'virtio-blk,drive=root' \
                     -kernel "${vmbuilddir}/kernel" -initrd "${vmbuilddir}/initrd" \
                     -no-reboot -nodefaults \
                     -device virtio-serial \
-                    -virtfs 'local,id=workdir,path='"${workdir}"',security_model=none,mount_tag=workdir' \
                     -append "root=UUID=${superminrootfsuuid} console=${DEFAULT_TERMINAL} selinux=1 enforcing=0 autorelabel=1" \
                    )
 
-    # support local dev cases where src/config is a symlink.  Note if you change or extend to this set,
-    # you also need to update supermin-init-prelude.sh to mount it inside the VM.
-    for maybe_symlink in "${workdir}"/{src/config,src/yumrepos,builds}; do
-        if [ -L "${maybe_symlink}" ]; then
-            # qemu follows symlinks
-            local bn
-            bn=$(basename "${maybe_symlink}")
-            base_qemu_args+=("-virtfs" "local,id=${bn},path=${maybe_symlink},security_model=none,mount_tag=${bn}")
-        fi
-    done
-
     if [ -z "${RUNVM_SHELL:-}" ]; then
         if ! "${kola_args[@]}" -- "${base_qemu_args[@]}" \
             -device virtserialport,chardev=virtioserial0,name=cosa-cmdout \
diff --git a/src/compose.sh b/src/compose.sh
index 2159f23196..a1dd66e2b4 100644
--- a/src/compose.sh
+++ b/src/compose.sh
@@ -9,14 +9,14 @@ composejson=cache/repo/compose.json
 rm -rf "${repo}"
 ostree init --repo="${repo}" --mode=archive-z2
 
-# we do need to pull at least the overlay bits over 9p, but it shouldn't be that
+# we do need to pull at least the overlay bits over virtiofs, but it shouldn't be that
 # many files
 ostree refs --repo tmp/repo overlay --list | \
     xargs -r ostree pull-local --repo "${repo}" tmp/repo
 # And import commit metadata for all refs; this will bring in the previous
 # build if there is one. Ideally, we'd import the SELinux policy too to take
 # advantage of https://github.com/coreos/rpm-ostree/pull/1704 but that's yet
-# more files over 9p and our pipelines don't have cache anyway (and devs likely
+# more files over virtiofs and our pipelines don't have cache anyway (and devs likely
 # use the privileged path).
 ostree refs --repo tmp/repo | \
     xargs -r ostree pull-local --commit-metadata-only --repo "${repo}" tmp/repo
diff --git a/src/create_disk.sh b/src/create_disk.sh
index 090b5e7470..0ac8a549df 100755
--- a/src/create_disk.sh
+++ b/src/create_disk.sh
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ if [ -z "$platforms_json" ]; then
     echo "Missing --platforms-json" >&2
     exit 1
 fi
-# just copy it over to /tmp and work from there to minimize 9p I/O
+# just copy it over to /tmp and work from there to minimize virtiofs I/O
 cp "${platforms_json}" /tmp/platforms.json
 platforms_json=/tmp/platforms.json
 platform_grub_cmds=$(jq -r ".${arch}.${platform}.grub_commands // [] | join(\"\\\\n\")" < "${platforms_json}")
diff --git a/src/deps.txt b/src/deps.txt
index 53e3e8111f..bb5d64e85a 100644
--- a/src/deps.txt
+++ b/src/deps.txt
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ genisoimage
 make git rpm-build
 
 # virt dependencies
-libguestfs-tools libguestfs-tools-c /usr/bin/qemu-img qemu-kvm swtpm
+libguestfs-tools libguestfs-tools-c virtiofsd /usr/bin/qemu-img qemu-kvm swtpm
 # And the main arch emulators for cross-arch testing
 qemu-system-aarch64-core qemu-system-ppc-core qemu-system-s390x-core qemu-system-x86-core
 
diff --git a/src/supermin-init-prelude.sh b/src/supermin-init-prelude.sh
index 0ef11ca7a5..fc6bf1d2d8 100644
--- a/src/supermin-init-prelude.sh
+++ b/src/supermin-init-prelude.sh
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /dev/shm
 # load selinux policy
 LANG=C /sbin/load_policy  -i
 
-# load kernel module for 9pnet_virtio for 9pfs mount
-/sbin/modprobe 9pnet_virtio
 
 # need fuse module for rofiles-fuse/bwrap during post scripts run
 /sbin/modprobe fuse
@@ -36,19 +34,9 @@ fi
 umask 002
 
 # set up workdir
-# For 9p mounts set msize to 100MiB
 # https://github.com/coreos/coreos-assembler/issues/2171
 mkdir -p "${workdir:?}"
-mount -t 9p -o rw,trans=virtio,version=9p2000.L,msize=10485760 workdir "${workdir}"
-
-# This loop pairs with virtfs setups for qemu in cmdlib.sh.  Keep them in sync.
-for maybe_symlink in "${workdir}"/{src/config,src/yumrepos,builds}; do
-    if [ -L "${maybe_symlink}" ]; then
-        bn=$(basename "${maybe_symlink}")
-        mkdir -p "$(readlink "${maybe_symlink}")"
-        mount -t 9p -o rw,trans=virtio,version=9p2000.L,msize=10485760 "${bn}" "${maybe_symlink}"
-    fi
-done
+mount -t virtiofs -o rw workdir "${workdir}"
 
 mkdir -p "${workdir}"/cache
 cachedev=$(blkid -lt LABEL=cosa-cache -o device || true)