diff --git a/test/TEST-54-CREDS/test.sh b/test/TEST-54-CREDS/test.sh
index 443be8761e0..68f97ce9533 100755
--- a/test/TEST-54-CREDS/test.sh
+++ b/test/TEST-54-CREDS/test.sh
@@ -38,4 +38,27 @@ test_append_files() {
     generate_module_dependencies
 }
 
+run_qemu_hook() {
+    local td="$WORKDIR"/initrd.extra."$RANDOM"
+    mkdir -m 755 "$td"
+    add_at_exit_handler "rm -rf $td"
+    mkdir -m 755 "$td/etc" "$td"/etc/systemd "$td"/etc/systemd/system "$td"/etc/systemd/system/initrd.target.wants
+
+    cat > "$td"/etc/systemd/system/initrdcred.service <<EOF
+[Unit]
+Description=populate initrd credential dir
+
+[Service]
+Type=oneshot
+RemainAfterExit=yes
+ExecStart=sh -c "mkdir -m 0755 -p /run/credentials && mkdir -m 0700 /run/credentials/@initrd && umask 0077 && echo guatemala > /run/credentials/@initrd/myinitrdcred"
+EOF
+    ln -s ../initrdcred.service "$td"/etc/systemd/system/initrd.target.wants/initrdcred.service
+
+    ( cd "$td" && find . | cpio -o -H newc -R root:root > "$td".cpio )
+    add_at_exit_handler "rm $td.cpio"
+
+    INITRD_EXTRA="$td.cpio"
+}
+
 do_test "$@"
diff --git a/test/test-functions b/test/test-functions
index 9d0ea73a421..41e1a0d57df 100644
--- a/test/test-functions
+++ b/test/test-functions
@@ -428,9 +428,25 @@ qemu_min_version() {
     printf "%s\n%s\n" "$1" "$qemu_ver" | sort -V -C
 }
 
+# Pads a file to multiple of 4 bytes
+pad4_file() {
+    local size
+    size=$(stat -c "%s" "$1")
+    local padded
+    padded=$((((size + 3) / 4) * 4))
+    truncate -s "$padded" "$1"
+}
+
 # Return 0 if qemu did run (then you must check the result state/logs for actual
 # success), or 1 if qemu is not available.
 run_qemu() {
+    if declare -F run_qemu_hook >/dev/null; then
+        if ! run_qemu_hook "${workspace}"; then
+            derror "check_qemu_hook() returned with EC > 0"
+            ret=4
+        fi
+    fi
+
     # If the test provided its own initrd, use it (e.g. TEST-24)
     if [[ -z "$INITRD" && -f "${TESTDIR:?}/initrd.img" ]]; then
         INITRD="$TESTDIR/initrd.img"
@@ -577,7 +593,28 @@ run_qemu() {
     fi
 
     if [[ -n "$INITRD" ]]; then
-        qemu_options+=(-initrd "$INITRD")
+        if [[ -n "$INITRD_EXTRA" ]]; then
+            # An addition initrd has been specified, let's combine it with the main one.
+            local t="$WORKDIR"/initrd.combined."$RANDOM"
+
+            # First, show contents of additional initrd
+            echo "Additional initrd contents:"
+            cpio -tv < "$INITRD_EXTRA"
+
+            # Copy the main initrd
+            zstd -d -c -f "$INITRD" > "$t"
+            add_at_exit_handler "rm $t"
+            # Kernel requires this to be padded to multiple of 4 bytes with zeroes
+            pad4_file "$t"
+
+            # Copy the additional initrd
+            cat "$INITRD_EXTRA" >> "$t"
+            pad4_file "$t"
+
+            qemu_options+=(-initrd "$t")
+        else
+            qemu_options+=(-initrd "$INITRD")
+        fi
     fi
 
     # Let's use KVM if possible
diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-54.sh b/test/units/testsuite-54.sh
index 89466a5e331..ca7e11fc463 100755
--- a/test/units/testsuite-54.sh
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-54.sh
@@ -301,6 +301,11 @@ systemd-run -p DynamicUser=yes -p 'LoadCredential=os:/etc/os-release' \
             --pipe \
             true | cmp /etc/os-release
 
+if ! systemd-detect-virt -q -c ; then
+    # Validate that the credential we inserted via the initrd logic arrived
+    test "$(systemd-creds cat --system myinitrdcred)" = "guatemala"
+fi
+
 systemd-analyze log-level info
 
 echo OK >/testok