diff --git a/pkg/domain/infra/abi/images.go b/pkg/domain/infra/abi/images.go
index c24fea0767..947611a68c 100644
--- a/pkg/domain/infra/abi/images.go
+++ b/pkg/domain/infra/abi/images.go
@@ -958,10 +958,11 @@ func execTransferPodman(execUser *user.User, command []string, needToTag bool) (
 		_ = cmdLogin.Wait()
 	}()
 
-	cmd := exec.Command(command[0], command[1:]...)
-	cmd.Env = []string{"PATH=" + os.Getenv("PATH"), "TERM=" + os.Getenv("TERM")}
-	cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
-	cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
+	// Use the physical path; $PWD may contain symlinks inaccessible to execUser.
+	cwd, err := syscall.Getwd()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 	uid, err := strconv.ParseInt(execUser.Uid, 10, 32)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -970,7 +971,7 @@ func execTransferPodman(execUser *user.User, command []string, needToTag bool) (
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	cmd.SysProcAttr = &syscall.SysProcAttr{
+	sysProcAttr := &syscall.SysProcAttr{
 		Credential: &syscall.Credential{
 			Uid:         uint32(uid),
 			Gid:         uint32(gid),
@@ -978,11 +979,28 @@ func execTransferPodman(execUser *user.User, command []string, needToTag bool) (
 			NoSetGroups: false,
 		},
 	}
-	if needToTag {
-		cmd.Stdout = nil
-		return cmd.Output()
+	run := func(dir string) ([]byte, error) {
+		cmd := exec.Command(command[0], command[1:]...)
+		// An explicit directory makes exec check access after changing credentials.
+		cmd.Dir = dir
+		cmd.Env = []string{"PATH=" + os.Getenv("PATH"), "TERM=" + os.Getenv("TERM")}
+		cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+		cmd.SysProcAttr = sysProcAttr
+		if needToTag {
+			return cmd.Output()
+		}
+		cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
+		return nil, cmd.Run()
 	}
-	return nil, cmd.Run()
+
+	out, err := run(cwd)
+	// Preserve relative paths when possible. Only retry a failure to start;
+	// a command that has already run must not be executed a second time.
+	var pathErr *os.PathError
+	if cwd != "/" && errors.As(err, &pathErr) && pathErr.Op == "fork/exec" && errors.Is(err, fs.ErrPermission) {
+		return run("/")
+	}
+	return out, err
 }
 
 func getSigFilename(sigStoreDirPath string) (string, error) {
diff --git a/test/system/120-load.bats b/test/system/120-load.bats
index 5656cbcdbc..7d6a9ed901 100644
--- a/test/system/120-load.bats
+++ b/test/system/120-load.bats
@@ -113,12 +113,24 @@ verify_iid_and_name() {
         if [[ -z "$notme" ]]; then
             skip "To run this test, set PODMAN_ROOTLESS_USER to a safe username"
         fi
-        _sudo() { command sudo -n -u "$notme" "$@"; }
+        _sudo() (
+            cd /
+            command sudo -n -u "$notme" "$@"
+        )
     fi
 
     # If we can't sudo, we can't test.
     _sudo true || skip "cannot sudo to $notme"
 
+    # Verify that save, load, and tag work when the destination user cannot access the caller's working directory.
+    if ! is_rootless; then
+        local private_dir=$PODMAN_TMPDIR/scp-cwd
+        mkdir -m 0700 "$private_dir"
+        run _sudo test -x "$private_dir"
+        assert "$status" -eq 1 "destination user cannot access the working directory"
+        cd "$private_dir"
+    fi
+
     # Preserve digest of original image; we will compare against it later
     run_podman image inspect --format '{{.RepoDigests}}' $IMAGE
     src_digests=$output
@@ -178,6 +190,23 @@ verify_iid_and_name() {
     run_podman rmi foobar:123
 }
 
+@test "podman image scp transfer with relative paths" {
+    skip_if_remote "only applicable under local podman"
+    skip_if_rootless "tests local transfers between root-owned stores"
+
+    cd "$PODMAN_TMPDIR"
+    local conf=registries-$(random_string).conf
+    printf 'unqualified-search-registries = ["example.com"]\n' > "$conf"
+
+    # Both forms must resolve paths relative to the caller's directory.
+    run_podman --registries-conf "./$conf" image scp root@localhost::$IMAGE root@localhost::
+    run_podman --registries-conf="./$conf" image scp root@localhost::$IMAGE root@localhost::
+    run_podman --registries-conf "$PODMAN_TMPDIR/$conf" image scp root@localhost::$IMAGE root@localhost::
+
+    # A command failure must be returned without retrying from another directory.
+    run_podman 125 --registries-conf "./$conf" image scp root@localhost::example.com/no-such-image:missing root@localhost::
+    assert "$output" =~ "image not known" "missing image error is preserved"
+}
 
 @test "podman load - by image ID" {
     # FIXME: how to build a simple archive instead?
diff --git a/test/tmt/system.fmf b/test/tmt/system.fmf
index 89dad8de2e..d1990c29e3 100644
--- a/test/tmt/system.fmf
+++ b/test/tmt/system.fmf
@@ -23,12 +23,16 @@ adjust+:
     summary: local rootful test
     test: bash ./system.sh
     duration: 60m
+    require+:
+        - systemd-container
 
 /local-rootless:
     tag: [ local, rootless ]
     summary: rootless test
     test: bash ./system.sh rootless
     duration: 60m
+    require+:
+        - systemd-container
 
 /remote-root:
     tag: [ remote, root ]