diff --git a/lib/fs.js b/lib/fs.js
index 4fbdaf813018..af6172f70f88 100644
--- a/lib/fs.js
+++ b/lib/fs.js
@@ -3254,6 +3254,11 @@ function realpathSync(p, options) {
   const seenLinks = new SafeMap();
   const knownHard = new SafeSet();
   const original = p;
+  // Whether the symlink this walk resolved last pointed at a pipe or a
+  // socket, which is where the walk stops. It cannot be read back from the
+  // shared stat buffer, which holds the last stat made anywhere in the
+  // process rather than the last one made here.
+  let reachedPipeOrSocket = false;
 
   // Current character position in p
   let pos;
@@ -3297,8 +3302,7 @@ function realpathSync(p, options) {
 
     // Continue if not a symlink, break if a pipe/socket
     if (knownHard.has(base) || cache?.get(base) === base) {
-      if (isFileType(statValues, S_IFIFO) ||
-          isFileType(statValues, S_IFSOCK)) {
+      if (reachedPipeOrSocket) {
         break;
       }
       continue;
@@ -3336,7 +3340,9 @@ function realpathSync(p, options) {
         }
       }
       if (linkTarget === null) {
-        binding.stat(base, false, undefined, true);
+        const targetStats = binding.stat(base, false, undefined, true);
+        reachedPipeOrSocket = isFileType(targetStats, S_IFIFO) ||
+          isFileType(targetStats, S_IFSOCK);
         linkTarget = binding.readlink(base, undefined);
       }
       resolvedLink = pathModule.resolve(previous, linkTarget);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-realpath-stale-stat-values.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-realpath-stale-stat-values.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5017e6b23467
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-realpath-stale-stat-values.js
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// Resolving a path must not depend on what was stat'ed before it.
+//
+// While walking a path, realpath skips the components it already knows are
+// real, and in that branch it consulted the shared stat buffer to decide
+// whether the walk had reached a pipe or a socket. That buffer holds the result
+// of the last stat made anywhere in the process, so an unrelated stat of a FIFO
+// made the walk stop early and hand back the path with its symlinks unresolved.
+// The unresolved path is then cached, so every later resolution repeats it.
+//
+// The walk only takes that branch once something has established the ancestors
+// as real, which is the state the module loader's realpath cache is in after it
+// has resolved anything else under the same directory. So this goes through
+// require() to reach it, and the second copy of the module is what the stale
+// read costs.
+
+const common = require('../common');
+
+if (common.isWindows)
+  common.skip('no mkfifo on Windows');
+
+const assert = require('assert');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+const { execFileSync } = require('child_process');
+const tmpdir = require('../common/tmpdir');
+
+tmpdir.refresh();
+
+const pkg = tmpdir.resolve('pkg');
+const link = tmpdir.resolve('pkg-link');
+const fifo = tmpdir.resolve('fifo');
+
+fs.mkdirSync(pkg);
+fs.writeFileSync(path.join(pkg, 'index.js'), 'module.exports = {};\n');
+fs.writeFileSync(tmpdir.resolve('warm.js'), 'module.exports = {};\n');
+fs.symlinkSync('pkg', link);
+execFileSync('mkfifo', [fifo]);
+
+const throughLink = path.join(link, 'index.js');
+const throughReal = path.join(pkg, 'index.js');
+
+require(tmpdir.resolve('warm.js'));
+fs.statSync(fifo);
+
+assert.strictEqual(require.resolve(throughLink), throughReal);
+assert.strictEqual(require(throughLink), require(throughReal));