diff --git a/src/core/dbus-execute.c b/src/core/dbus-execute.c
index 0346ee1478..df5168caaf 100644
--- a/src/core/dbus-execute.c
+++ b/src/core/dbus-execute.c
@@ -2799,10 +2799,6 @@ int bus_exec_context_set_transient_property(
                                 if (!path_is_normalized(simplified))
                                         return sd_bus_error_set(error, SD_BUS_ERROR_INVALID_ARGS,
                                                                 "WorkingDirectory= expects a normalized path or '~'");
-
-                                if (path_below_api_vfs(simplified))
-                                        return sd_bus_error_set(error, SD_BUS_ERROR_INVALID_ARGS,
-                                                                "WorkingDirectory= may not be below /proc/, /sys/ or /dev/");
                         }
                 }
 
diff --git a/src/core/load-fragment.c b/src/core/load-fragment.c
index a0b20a8d91..e2a528a629 100644
--- a/src/core/load-fragment.c
+++ b/src/core/load-fragment.c
@@ -2635,7 +2635,8 @@ int config_parse_working_directory(
                         return missing_ok ? 0 : -ENOEXEC;
                 }
 
-                r = path_simplify_and_warn(k, PATH_CHECK_ABSOLUTE|PATH_CHECK_NON_API_VFS|(missing_ok ? 0 : PATH_CHECK_FATAL), unit, filename, line, lvalue);
+                r = path_simplify_and_warn(k, PATH_CHECK_ABSOLUTE|(missing_ok ? 0 : PATH_CHECK_FATAL),
+                                           unit, filename, line, lvalue);
                 if (r < 0)
                         return missing_ok ? 0 : -ENOEXEC;
 
diff --git a/src/core/unit.c b/src/core/unit.c
index e8b32e862d..0e931be484 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.c
+++ b/src/core/unit.c
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 #include "logarithm.h"
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "mkdir-label.h"
+#include "mountpoint-util.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
 #include "process-util.h"
 #include "rm-rf.h"
@@ -4224,6 +4225,10 @@ static int unit_verify_contexts(const Unit *u, const ExecContext *ec) {
         if (ec->dynamic_user && ec->working_directory_home)
                 return log_unit_error_errno(u, SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(ENOEXEC), "WorkingDirectory=~ is not allowed under DynamicUser=yes. Refusing.");
 
+        if (ec->working_directory && path_below_api_vfs(ec->working_directory) &&
+            exec_needs_mount_namespace(ec, /* params = */ NULL, /* runtime = */ NULL))
+                return log_unit_error_errno(u, SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(ENOEXEC), "WorkingDirectory= may not be below /proc/, /sys/ or /dev/ when using mount namespacing. Refusing.");
+
         return 0;
 }