diff --git a/completions/bash/crio b/completions/bash/crio
index abaed9a0a35..663c9f26237 100755
--- a/completions/bash/crio
+++ b/completions/bash/crio
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ version
 wipe
 help
 h
+--absent-mount-sources-to-reject
 --additional-devices
 --apparmor-profile
 --big-files-temporary-dir
diff --git a/completions/fish/crio.fish b/completions/fish/crio.fish
index d72399065ef..70e6f7ee746 100644
--- a/completions/fish/crio.fish
+++ b/completions/fish/crio.fish
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ function __fish_crio_no_subcommand --description 'Test if there has been any sub
     return 0
 end
 
+complete -c crio -n '__fish_crio_no_subcommand' -f -l absent-mount-sources-to-reject -r -d 'A list of paths that, when absent from the host, will cause a container creation to fail (as opposed to the current behavior of creating a directory).'
 complete -c crio -n '__fish_crio_no_subcommand' -f -l additional-devices -r -d 'Devices to add to the containers '
 complete -c crio -n '__fish_crio_no_subcommand' -f -l apparmor-profile -r -d 'Name of the apparmor profile to be used as the runtime\'s default. This only takes effect if the user does not specify a profile via the Kubernetes Pod\'s metadata annotation.'
 complete -c crio -n '__fish_crio_no_subcommand' -f -l big-files-temporary-dir -r -d 'Path to the temporary directory to use for storing big files, used to store image blobs and data streams related to containers image management.'
diff --git a/completions/zsh/_crio b/completions/zsh/_crio
index c0200e2bc97..9ad7e402f66 100644
--- a/completions/zsh/_crio
+++ b/completions/zsh/_crio
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ it later with **--config**. Global options will modify the output.' 'version:dis
   _describe 'commands' cmds
 
   local -a opts
-  opts=('--additional-devices' '--apparmor-profile' '--big-files-temporary-dir' '--bind-mount-prefix' '--cgroup-manager' '--clean-shutdown-file' '--cni-config-dir' '--cni-default-network' '--cni-plugin-dir' '--config' '--config-dir' '--conmon' '--conmon-cgroup' '--conmon-env' '--container-attach-socket-dir' '--container-exits-dir' '--ctr-stop-timeout' '--decryption-keys-path' '--default-capabilities' '--default-env' '--default-mounts-file' '--default-runtime' '--default-sysctls' '--default-transport' '--default-ulimits' '--drop-infra-ctr' '--enable-metrics' '--enable-profile-unix-socket' '--gid-mappings' '--global-auth-file' '--grpc-max-recv-msg-size' '--grpc-max-send-msg-size' '--hooks-dir' '--image-volumes' '--infra-ctr-cpuset' '--insecure-registry' '--irqbalance-config-file' '--listen' '--log' '--log-dir' '--log-filter' '--log-format' '--log-journald' '--log-level' '--log-size-max' '--metrics-port' '--metrics-socket' '--namespaces-dir' '--no-pivot' '--pause-command' '--pause-image' '--pause-image-auth-file' '--pids-limit' '--pinns-path' '--profile' '--profile-port' '--read-only' '--registries-conf' '--registries-conf-dir' '--registry' '--root' '--runroot' '--runtimes' '--seccomp-profile' '--seccomp-use-default-when-empty' '--selinux' '--separate-pull-cgroup' '--signature-policy' '--storage-driver' '--storage-opt' '--stream-address' '--stream-enable-tls' '--stream-idle-timeout' '--stream-port' '--stream-tls-ca' '--stream-tls-cert' '--stream-tls-key' '--uid-mappings' '--version-file' '--version-file-persist' '--help' '--version')
+  opts=('--absent-mount-sources-to-reject' '--additional-devices' '--apparmor-profile' '--big-files-temporary-dir' '--bind-mount-prefix' '--cgroup-manager' '--clean-shutdown-file' '--cni-config-dir' '--cni-default-network' '--cni-plugin-dir' '--config' '--config-dir' '--conmon' '--conmon-cgroup' '--conmon-env' '--container-attach-socket-dir' '--container-exits-dir' '--ctr-stop-timeout' '--decryption-keys-path' '--default-capabilities' '--default-env' '--default-mounts-file' '--default-runtime' '--default-sysctls' '--default-transport' '--default-ulimits' '--drop-infra-ctr' '--enable-metrics' '--enable-profile-unix-socket' '--gid-mappings' '--global-auth-file' '--grpc-max-recv-msg-size' '--grpc-max-send-msg-size' '--hooks-dir' '--image-volumes' '--infra-ctr-cpuset' '--insecure-registry' '--irqbalance-config-file' '--listen' '--log' '--log-dir' '--log-filter' '--log-format' '--log-journald' '--log-level' '--log-size-max' '--metrics-port' '--metrics-socket' '--namespaces-dir' '--no-pivot' '--pause-command' '--pause-image' '--pause-image-auth-file' '--pids-limit' '--pinns-path' '--profile' '--profile-port' '--read-only' '--registries-conf' '--registries-conf-dir' '--registry' '--root' '--runroot' '--runtimes' '--seccomp-profile' '--seccomp-use-default-when-empty' '--selinux' '--separate-pull-cgroup' '--signature-policy' '--storage-driver' '--storage-opt' '--stream-address' '--stream-enable-tls' '--stream-idle-timeout' '--stream-port' '--stream-tls-ca' '--stream-tls-cert' '--stream-tls-key' '--uid-mappings' '--version-file' '--version-file-persist' '--help' '--version')
   _describe 'global options' opts
 
   return
diff --git a/docs/crio.8.md b/docs/crio.8.md
index d826f8f101e..eaae664cea8 100644
--- a/docs/crio.8.md
+++ b/docs/crio.8.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ crio - OCI-based implementation of Kubernetes Container Runtime Interface
 crio
 
 ```
+[--absent-mount-sources-to-reject]=[value]
 [--additional-devices]=[value]
 [--apparmor-profile]=[value]
 [--big-files-temporary-dir]=[value]
@@ -117,6 +118,8 @@ crio [GLOBAL OPTIONS] command [COMMAND OPTIONS] [ARGUMENTS...]
 
 # GLOBAL OPTIONS
 
+**--absent-mount-sources-to-reject**="": A list of paths that, when absent from the host, will cause a container creation to fail (as opposed to the current behavior of creating a directory). (default: [])
+
 **--additional-devices**="": Devices to add to the containers  (default: [])
 
 **--apparmor-profile**="": Name of the apparmor profile to be used as the runtime's default. This only takes effect if the user does not specify a profile via the Kubernetes Pod's metadata annotation. (default: crio-default)
diff --git a/docs/crio.conf.5.md b/docs/crio.conf.5.md
index 02923f757d5..52053529975 100644
--- a/docs/crio.conf.5.md
+++ b/docs/crio.conf.5.md
@@ -249,6 +249,9 @@ the container runtime configuration.
 **pinns_path**=""
   The path to find the pinns binary, which is needed to manage namespace lifecycle
 
+**absent_mount_sources_to_reject**=[]
+  A list of paths that, when absent from the host, will cause a container creation to fail (as opposed to the current behavior of creating a directory).
+
 ### CRIO.RUNTIME.RUNTIMES TABLE
 The "crio.runtime.runtimes" table defines a list of OCI compatible runtimes.  The runtime to use is picked based on the runtime_handler provided by the CRI.  If no runtime_handler is provided, the runtime will be picked based on the level of trust of the workload.
 
diff --git a/internal/criocli/criocli.go b/internal/criocli/criocli.go
index da84beaf04b..8f8447137c7 100644
--- a/internal/criocli/criocli.go
+++ b/internal/criocli/criocli.go
@@ -290,6 +290,9 @@ func mergeConfig(config *libconfig.Config, ctx *cli.Context) error {
 	if ctx.IsSet("clean-shutdown-file") {
 		config.CleanShutdownFile = ctx.String("clean-shutdown-file")
 	}
+	if ctx.IsSet("absent-mount-sources-to-reject") {
+		config.AbsentMountSourcesToReject = StringSliceTrySplit(ctx, "absent-mount-sources-to-reject")
+	}
 	if ctx.IsSet("enable-metrics") {
 		config.EnableMetrics = ctx.Bool("enable-metrics")
 	}
@@ -848,6 +851,12 @@ func getCrioFlags(defConf *libconfig.Config) []cli.Flag {
 			EnvVars:   []string{"CONTAINER_CLEAN_SHUTDOWN_FILE"},
 			TakesFile: true,
 		},
+		&cli.StringSliceFlag{
+			Name:    "absent-mount-sources-to-reject",
+			Value:   cli.NewStringSlice(defConf.AbsentMountSourcesToReject...),
+			Usage:   "A list of paths that, when absent from the host, will cause a container creation to fail (as opposed to the current behavior of creating a directory).",
+			EnvVars: []string{"CONTAINER_ABSENT_MOUNT_SOURCES_TO_REJECT"},
+		},
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 6b220d85e06..688f38311ab 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -328,6 +328,10 @@ type RuntimeConfig struct {
 	// InfraCtrCPUSet is the CPUs set that will be used to run infra containers
 	InfraCtrCPUSet string `toml:"infra_ctr_cpuset"`
 
+	// AbsentMountSourcesToReject is a list of paths that, when absent from the host,
+	// will cause a container creation to fail (as opposed to the current behavior of creating a directory).
+	AbsentMountSourcesToReject []string `toml:"absent_mount_sources_to_reject"`
+
 	// seccompConfig is the internal seccomp configuration
 	seccompConfig *seccomp.Config
 
diff --git a/pkg/config/template.go b/pkg/config/template.go
index bdfc2591b5e..e426c05c23e 100644
--- a/pkg/config/template.go
+++ b/pkg/config/template.go
@@ -360,6 +360,11 @@ func initCrioTemplateConfig(c *Config) ([]*templateConfigValue, error) {
 			group:          crioRuntimeConfig,
 			isDefaultValue: simpleEqual(dc.DefaultRuntime, c.DefaultRuntime),
 		},
+		{
+			templateString: templateStringCrioRuntimeAbsentMountSourcesToReject,
+			group:          crioRuntimeConfig,
+			isDefaultValue: stringSliceEqual(dc.AbsentMountSourcesToReject, c.AbsentMountSourcesToReject),
+		},
 		{
 			templateString: templateStringCrioRuntimeRuntimesRuntimeHandler,
 			group:          crioRuntimeConfig,
@@ -893,6 +898,17 @@ default_runtime = "{{ .DefaultRuntime }}"
 
 `
 
+const templateStringCrioRuntimeAbsentMountSourcesToReject = `# A list of paths that, when absent from the host,
+# will cause a container creation to fail (as opposed to the current behavior being created as a directory).
+# This option is to protect from source locations whose existence as a directory could jepordize the health of the node, and whose
+# creation as a file is not desired either.
+# An example is /etc/hostname, which will cause failures on reboot if it's created as a directory, but often doesn't exist because
+# the hostname is being managed dynamically.
+absent_mount_sources_to_reject = [
+{{ range $mount := .AbsentMountSourcesToReject}}{{ printf "\t%q,\n" $mount}}{{ end }}]
+
+`
+
 const templateStringCrioRuntimeRuntimesRuntimeHandler = `# The "crio.runtime.runtimes" table defines a list of OCI compatible runtimes.
 # The runtime to use is picked based on the runtime_handler provided by the CRI.
 # If no runtime_handler is provided, the runtime will be picked based on the level
diff --git a/server/container_create_linux.go b/server/container_create_linux.go
index 5406dee30f7..840c724cbc6 100644
--- a/server/container_create_linux.go
+++ b/server/container_create_linux.go
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ func (s *Server) createSandboxContainer(ctx context.Context, ctr ctrIface.Contai
 		processLabel = ""
 	}
 
-	containerVolumes, ociMounts, err := addOCIBindMounts(ctx, mountLabel, containerConfig, specgen, s.config.RuntimeConfig.BindMountPrefix)
+	containerVolumes, ociMounts, err := addOCIBindMounts(ctx, mountLabel, containerConfig, specgen, s.config.RuntimeConfig.BindMountPrefix, s.config.AbsentMountSourcesToReject)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -770,7 +770,7 @@ func clearReadOnly(m *rspec.Mount) {
 	m.Options = append(m.Options, "rw")
 }
 
-func addOCIBindMounts(ctx context.Context, mountLabel string, containerConfig *types.ContainerConfig, specgen *generate.Generator, bindMountPrefix string) ([]oci.ContainerVolume, []rspec.Mount, error) {
+func addOCIBindMounts(ctx context.Context, mountLabel string, containerConfig *types.ContainerConfig, specgen *generate.Generator, bindMountPrefix string, absentMountSourcesToReject []string) ([]oci.ContainerVolume, []rspec.Mount, error) {
 	volumes := []oci.ContainerVolume{}
 	ociMounts := []rspec.Mount{}
 	mounts := containerConfig.Mounts
@@ -826,7 +826,15 @@ func addOCIBindMounts(ctx context.Context, mountLabel string, containerConfig *t
 		} else {
 			if !os.IsNotExist(err) {
 				return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to resolve symlink %q: %v", src, err)
-			} else if err = os.MkdirAll(src, 0o755); err != nil {
+			}
+			for _, toReject := range absentMountSourcesToReject {
+				if filepath.Clean(src) == toReject {
+					// special-case /etc/hostname, as we don't want it to be created as a directory
+					// This can cause issues with node reboot.
+					return nil, nil, errors.Errorf("Cannot mount %s: path does not exist and will cause issues as a directory", toReject)
+				}
+			}
+			if err = os.MkdirAll(src, 0o755); err != nil {
 				return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to mkdir %s: %s", src, err)
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/server/container_create_linux_test.go b/server/container_create_linux_test.go
index 86e84df9a21..27c0d2375fb 100644
--- a/server/container_create_linux_test.go
+++ b/server/container_create_linux_test.go
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ func TestAddOCIBindsForDev(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 	}
-	_, binds, err := addOCIBindMounts(context.Background(), "", config, &specgen, "")
+	_, binds, err := addOCIBindMounts(context.Background(), "", config, &specgen, "", nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func TestAddOCIBindsForSys(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 	}
-	_, binds, err := addOCIBindMounts(context.Background(), "", config, &specgen, "")
+	_, binds, err := addOCIBindMounts(context.Background(), "", config, &specgen, "", nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
diff --git a/test/ctr.bats b/test/ctr.bats
index 27803542263..eff9e6f6b87 100644
--- a/test/ctr.bats
+++ b/test/ctr.bats
@@ -887,3 +887,18 @@ function wait_until_exit() {
 	output=$(crictl exec --sync "$ctr_id" env)
 	[[ "$output" == *"NSS_SDB_USE_CACHE=no"* ]]
 }
+
+@test "ctr with absent mount that should be rejected" {
+	ABSENT_DIR="$TESTDIR/notthere"
+	jq --arg path "$ABSENT_DIR" \
+		'  .mounts = [ {
+			host_path: $path,
+			container_path: $path
+		} ]' \
+		"$TESTDATA"/container_redis.json > "$TESTDIR/config"
+
+	CONTAINER_ABSENT_MOUNT_SOURCES_TO_REJECT="$ABSENT_DIR" start_crio
+
+	pod_id=$(crictl runp "$TESTDATA"/sandbox_config.json)
+	! crictl create "$pod_id" "$TESTDIR/config" "$TESTDATA"/sandbox_config.json
+}