diff --git a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/create_cmd.py b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/create_cmd.py
index be8d0ca96..cde67d8b2 100644
--- a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/create_cmd.py
+++ b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/create_cmd.py
@@ -766,6 +766,12 @@ class ArchiverTestCase(ArchiverTestCaseBase):
         try:
             self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "create", "--read-special", "test", "input/link_fifo")
         finally:
+            # In case `borg create` failed to open FIFO, read all data to avoid join() hanging.
+            fd = os.open(fifo_fn, os.O_RDONLY | os.O_NONBLOCK)
+            try:
+                os.read(fd, len(data))
+            finally:
+                os.close(fd)
             t.join()
         with changedir("output"):
             self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "extract", "test")