diff --git a/cmd/containerd/command/main.go b/cmd/containerd/command/main.go
index c18794a9c81f..c4d58c1322f7 100644
--- a/cmd/containerd/command/main.go
+++ b/cmd/containerd/command/main.go
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ can be used and modified as necessary as a custom configuration.`
 		ociHook,
 	}
 	app.Action = func(cliContext *cli.Context) error {
+		if args := cliContext.Args(); args.First() != "" {
+			return cli.ShowCommandHelp(cliContext, args.First())
+		}
+
 		var (
 			start       = time.Now()
 			signals     = make(chan os.Signal, 2048)
diff --git a/pkg/oci/spec_opts.go b/pkg/oci/spec_opts.go
index 8338279b9019..4f26f6da3f38 100644
--- a/pkg/oci/spec_opts.go
+++ b/pkg/oci/spec_opts.go
@@ -1152,7 +1152,7 @@ func UserFromPath(root string, filter func(user.User) bool) (user.User, error) {
 // UserFromFS inspects the user object using /etc/passwd in the specified fs.FS.
 // filter can be nil.
 func UserFromFS(root fs.FS, filter func(user.User) bool) (user.User, error) {
-	f, err := root.Open("etc/passwd")
+	f, err := openUserFile(root, "etc/passwd")
 	if err != nil {
 		return user.User{}, err
 	}
@@ -1184,7 +1184,7 @@ func GIDFromPath(root string, filter func(user.Group) bool) (gid uint32, err err
 // GIDFromFS inspects the GID using /etc/group in the specified fs.FS.
 // filter can be nil.
 func GIDFromFS(root fs.FS, filter func(user.Group) bool) (gid uint32, err error) {
-	f, err := root.Open("etc/group")
+	f, err := openUserFile(root, "etc/group")
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, err
 	}
@@ -1816,3 +1816,43 @@ func WithWindowsNetworkNamespace(ns string) SpecOpts {
 		return nil
 	}
 }
+
+// readLinker defines the ReadLink method locally.
+// We keep this shim to ensure compatibility with build environments where
+// the standard library's fs.ReadLinkFS interface is not yet available or recognized.
+type readLinker interface {
+	ReadLink(name string) (string, error)
+}
+
+// openUserFile attempts to open a file within the root fs.
+// It handles cases where the file is an absolute symlink (e.g., NixOS /etc/passwd -> /nix/store/...),
+// which triggers "path escapes from parent" errors in Go 1.24+ due to stricter os.DirFS validation.
+func openUserFile(root fs.FS, name string) (fs.File, error) {
+	f, err := root.Open(name)
+	if err == nil {
+		return f, nil
+	}
+
+	// Check if the FS implements our local ReadLink interface.
+	// We use a local interface instead of fs.ReadLinkFS to avoid strict dependency
+	// issues in some build environments.
+	if lfs, ok := root.(readLinker); ok {
+		if target, lerr := lfs.ReadLink(name); lerr == nil {
+			// Use filepath.IsAbs to handle platform-agnostic absolute path checks
+			if filepath.IsAbs(target) {
+				// Re-anchor the absolute path to the root.
+				// e.g. /nix/store/... becomes nix/store/... (relative to root fs)
+				// We use filepath.Rel to safely strip the leading separator.
+				rel, rerr := filepath.Rel(string(filepath.Separator), target)
+				if rerr == nil {
+					// filepath.Rel might return OS-specific separators (backslashes on Windows).
+					// fs.Open strictly expects forward slashes, so we convert it.
+					return root.Open(filepath.ToSlash(rel))
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Return the original error if we couldn't resolve it
+	return nil, err
+}
diff --git a/pkg/oci/spec_test.go b/pkg/oci/spec_test.go
index 5e0a48986e93..cca478d9d979 100644
--- a/pkg/oci/spec_test.go
+++ b/pkg/oci/spec_test.go
@@ -18,14 +18,18 @@ package oci
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"io"
+	"io/fs"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/specs-go"
-
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/core/containers"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/pkg/namespaces"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/pkg/testutil"
+	"github.com/containerd/continuity/fs/fstest"
+	"github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/specs-go"
 )
 
 func TestGenerateSpec(t *testing.T) {
@@ -325,3 +329,62 @@ func TestWithPrivileged(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error("Did not find mount for cgroupfs")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestOpenUserFile_AbsoluteSymlink(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		t.Skip("absolute symlink handling is only supported on non-Windows platforms")
+	}
+
+	expectedContent := []byte("root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash" + t.Name())
+
+	root := t.TempDir()
+	// Use 'continuity' library to create a directory structure simulating NixOS
+	if err := fstest.Apply(
+		fstest.CreateDir("/etc", 0o755),
+		fstest.CreateDir("/nix/store/abcd", 0o755),
+		fstest.CreateFile("/nix/store/abcd/passwd", expectedContent, 0o644),
+		// /etc/passwd -> /nix/store/abcd/passwd (absolute symlink)
+		fstest.Symlink("/nix/store/abcd/passwd", "/etc/passwd"),
+	).Apply(root); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	rootFS := os.DirFS(root)
+
+	// Ensure the FS implements the ReadLink interface.
+	// If the native os.DirFS doesn't implement it (depending on Go version),
+	// wrap it in our readLinkFS helper.
+	if _, ok := rootFS.(readLinker); !ok {
+		t.Logf("os.DirFS does not implement ReadLink; wrapping to use ReadLink")
+		rootFS = readLinkFS{root: root, fs: rootFS}
+	}
+
+	f, err := openUserFile(rootFS, "etc/passwd")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("openUserFile failed on absolute symlink: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	content, err := io.ReadAll(f)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if string(content) != string(expectedContent) {
+		t.Errorf("expected content %q, got %q", string(expectedContent), string(content))
+	}
+}
+
+// Helpers for testing ReadLink support
+type readLinkFS struct {
+	root string
+	fs   fs.FS
+}
+
+func (r readLinkFS) Open(name string) (fs.File, error) {
+	return r.fs.Open(name)
+}
+
+func (r readLinkFS) ReadLink(name string) (string, error) {
+	// Force link reading using the actual path on disk
+	return os.Readlink(filepath.Join(r.root, filepath.FromSlash(name)))
+}