diff --git a/coverage.txt b/coverage.txt
index f71e14a..9e10836 100644
--- a/coverage.txt
+++ b/coverage.txt
@@ -430,3 +430,6 @@ Modes: root unshare
 
 Test: skip-tar-in-mknod
 Modes: unshare
+
+Test: zombie-reaping
+Modes: unshare
diff --git a/mmdebstrap b/mmdebstrap
index aeebebb..f422438 100755
--- a/mmdebstrap
+++ b/mmdebstrap
@@ -1964,6 +1964,23 @@ sub setup {
 
     my $msg = $@;
 
+    # Wait for (reap) potential zombies and otherwise long-running background
+    # processes or otherwise they might hog resources like /dev/null which can
+    # then not be unmounted resulting in their mountpoints (the regular files)
+    # not being removable and then the removal of device nodes in run_cleanup
+    # (if mmdebstrap is run with --skip=output/dev) will fail.
+    if (any { $_ eq 'zombie-reaping' } @{ $options->{skip} }) {
+        info "skipping zombie-reaping as requested";
+    } else {
+        if (waitpid(-1, POSIX::WNOHANG) >= 0) {
+            info "waiting for background processes to finish...";
+        }
+        while ((my $child = waitpid(-1, 0)) > 0) {
+            my $status = $? >> 8;
+            info "PID $child exited with exit code $status";
+        }
+    }
+
     $cleanup->(0);
     if ($msg) {
         error "setup failed: $msg";
@@ -7238,14 +7255,16 @@ hook. Otherwise, if I<command> is an existing executable file from C<$PATH> or
 if I<command> does not contain any shell metacharacters, then I<command> is
 directly exec-ed with the path to the chroot directory passed as the first
 argument. Otherwise, I<command> is executed under I<sh> and the chroot
-directory can be accessed via I<$1>. Most environment variables set by
-B<mmdebstrap> (like C<DEBIAN_FRONTEND>, C<LC_ALL> and C<PATH>) are preserved.
-Most notably, C<APT_CONFIG> is being unset. If you need the path to
-C<APT_CONFIG> as written by mmdebstrap it can be found in the
-C<MMDEBSTRAP_APT_CONFIG> environment variable. All environment variables set by
-the user are preserved, except for C<TMPDIR> which is cleared. See section
-B<TMPDIR>. Furthermore, C<MMDEBSTRAP_MODE> will store the mode set by
-B<--mode>, C<MMDEBSTRAP_FORMAT> stores the format chosen by B<--format>,
+directory can be accessed via I<$1>. Background (daemon) processes spawned in
+a hook are not guaranteed to persist beyond the hook that created them.
+
+Most environment variables set by B<mmdebstrap> (like C<DEBIAN_FRONTEND>,
+C<LC_ALL> and C<PATH>) are preserved.  Most notably, C<APT_CONFIG> is being
+unset. If you need the path to C<APT_CONFIG> as written by mmdebstrap it can be
+found in the C<MMDEBSTRAP_APT_CONFIG> environment variable. All environment
+variables set by the user are preserved, except for C<TMPDIR> which is cleared.
+See section B<TMPDIR>. Furthermore, C<MMDEBSTRAP_MODE> will store the mode set
+by B<--mode>, C<MMDEBSTRAP_FORMAT> stores the format chosen by B<--format>,
 C<MMDEBSTRAP_HOOK> stores which hook is currently run (setup, extract,
 essential, customize), C<MMDEBSTRAP_ARGV0> stores the name of the binary with
 which B<mmdebstrap> was executed and C<MMDEBSTRAP_VERBOSITY> stores the
@@ -7480,6 +7499,11 @@ This step is not carried out in B<extract> mode.
 Unmount everything that was mounted during the B<mount> stage and restores
 F</usr/sbin/policy-rc.d> and F</usr/sbin/start-stop-daemon> if necessary.
 
+=item B<zombie-reaping>
+
+Wait for (reap) still running processes (background processes or zombie
+processes), unless B<--skip=zombie-reaping> is used.
+
 =item B<cleanup>
 
 Performs cleanup tasks, unless B<--skip=cleanup> is used:
diff --git a/tests/zombie-reaping b/tests/zombie-reaping
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83c9c1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/zombie-reaping
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -eu
+export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
+export SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH={{ SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH }}
+
+[ {{ MODE }} = "unshare" ]
+
+trap "rm -f /tmp/debian-chroot.tar" EXIT INT TERM
+
+prefix=
+if [ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ] && [ "{{ MODE }}" != "root" ] && [ "{{ MODE }}" != "auto" ]; then
+	if ! id "${SUDO_USER:-user}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+		if [ ! -e /mmdebstrap-testenv ]; then
+			echo "this test modifies the system and should only be run inside a container" >&2
+			exit 1
+		fi
+		useradd --home-dir "/home/${SUDO_USER:-user}" --create-home "${SUDO_USER:-user}"
+	fi
+	prefix="runuser -u ${SUDO_USER:-user} --"
+fi
+
+MMTARFILTER=
+[ -x /usr/bin/mmtarfilter ] && MMTARFILTER=/usr/bin/mmtarfilter
+[ -x ./tarfilter ] && MMTARFILTER=./tarfilter
+
+$prefix {{ CMD }} --mode={{ MODE }} --variant=apt \
+	--skip=output/dev \
+	--customize-hook='chroot "$1" sh -c "sleep 1m > /dev/null" &' \
+	{{ DIST }} - {{ MIRROR }} \
+		| "$MMTARFILTER" --path-exclude="/dev" \
+		> /tmp/debian-chroot.tar
+
+origfilter() {
+	< ./cache/mmdebstrap-{{ DIST }}-apt.tar \
+		"$MMTARFILTER" --path-exclude="/dev/*" --path-exclude="/dev"
+}
+
+origfilter | cmp - /tmp/debian-chroot.tar \
+	|| origfilter | diffoscope - /tmp/debian-chroot.tar