diff --git a/src/basic/chase-symlinks.c b/src/basic/chase-symlinks.c
index fc6e26d2f2..385d0aed69 100644
--- a/src/basic/chase-symlinks.c
+++ b/src/basic/chase-symlinks.c
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ int chase_symlinks_and_opendir(
                 return r;
         assert(path_fd >= 0);
 
-        d = opendir(FORMAT_PROC_FD_PATH(path_fd));
+        d = xopendirat(path_fd, ".", O_NOFOLLOW);
         if (!d)
                 return -errno;
 
diff --git a/src/basic/glyph-util.c b/src/basic/glyph-util.c
index 67f2270daf..de1224f04f 100644
--- a/src/basic/glyph-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/glyph-util.c
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ const char *special_glyph(SpecialGlyph code) {
                         [SPECIAL_GLYPH_RECYCLING]               = "~",
                         [SPECIAL_GLYPH_DOWNLOAD]                = "\\",
                         [SPECIAL_GLYPH_SPARKLES]                = "*",
+                        [SPECIAL_GLYPH_WARNING_SIGN]            = "!",
                 },
 
                 /* UTF-8 */
@@ -124,10 +125,11 @@ const char *special_glyph(SpecialGlyph code) {
                         /* This emoji is a single character cell glyph in Unicode, and two in ASCII */
                         [SPECIAL_GLYPH_TOUCH]                   = u8"👆",       /* actually called: BACKHAND INDEX POINTING UP */
 
-                        /* These three emojis are single character cell glyphs in Unicode and also in ASCII. */
+                        /* These four emojis are single character cell glyphs in Unicode and also in ASCII. */
                         [SPECIAL_GLYPH_RECYCLING]               = u8"♻️",        /* actually called: UNIVERSAL RECYCLNG SYMBOL */
                         [SPECIAL_GLYPH_DOWNLOAD]                = u8"⤵️",        /* actually called: RIGHT ARROW CURVING DOWN */
                         [SPECIAL_GLYPH_SPARKLES]                = u8"✨",
+                        [SPECIAL_GLYPH_WARNING_SIGN]            = u8"⚠️",
                 },
         };
 
diff --git a/src/basic/glyph-util.h b/src/basic/glyph-util.h
index 621d7a85b7..b64639622e 100644
--- a/src/basic/glyph-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/glyph-util.h
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ typedef enum SpecialGlyph {
         SPECIAL_GLYPH_RECYCLING,
         SPECIAL_GLYPH_DOWNLOAD,
         SPECIAL_GLYPH_SPARKLES,
+        SPECIAL_GLYPH_WARNING_SIGN,
         _SPECIAL_GLYPH_MAX,
         _SPECIAL_GLYPH_INVALID = -EINVAL,
 } SpecialGlyph;
diff --git a/src/systemctl/systemctl.c b/src/systemctl/systemctl.c
index 0a12bcebc3..d13c7867e2 100644
--- a/src/systemctl/systemctl.c
+++ b/src/systemctl/systemctl.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "rlimit-util.h"
 #include "sigbus.h"
 #include "signal-util.h"
+#include "stat-util.h"
 #include "string-table.h"
 #include "systemctl-add-dependency.h"
 #include "systemctl-cancel-job.h"
@@ -1157,6 +1158,13 @@ static int run(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         if (r <= 0)
                 goto finish;
 
+        if (proc_mounted() == 0)
+                log_warning("%s%s/proc/ is not mounted. This is not a supported mode of operation. Please fix\n"
+                            "your invocation environment to mount /proc/ and /sys/ properly. Proceeding anyway.\n"
+                            "Your mileage may vary.",
+                            emoji_enabled() ? special_glyph(SPECIAL_GLYPH_WARNING_SIGN) : "",
+                            emoji_enabled() ? " " : "");
+
         if (arg_action != ACTION_SYSTEMCTL && running_in_chroot() > 0) {
                 if (!arg_quiet)
                         log_info("Running in chroot, ignoring request.");
diff --git a/src/test/test-locale-util.c b/src/test/test-locale-util.c
index aa501b650a..dd96af6894 100644
--- a/src/test/test-locale-util.c
+++ b/src/test/test-locale-util.c
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ TEST(keymaps) {
 
 #define dump_glyph(x) log_info(STRINGIFY(x) ": %s", special_glyph(x))
 TEST(dump_special_glyphs) {
-        assert_cc(SPECIAL_GLYPH_SPARKLES + 1 == _SPECIAL_GLYPH_MAX);
+        assert_cc(SPECIAL_GLYPH_WARNING_SIGN + 1 == _SPECIAL_GLYPH_MAX);
 
         log_info("is_locale_utf8: %s", yes_no(is_locale_utf8()));
 
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ TEST(dump_special_glyphs) {
         dump_glyph(SPECIAL_GLYPH_RECYCLING);
         dump_glyph(SPECIAL_GLYPH_DOWNLOAD);
         dump_glyph(SPECIAL_GLYPH_SPARKLES);
+        dump_glyph(SPECIAL_GLYPH_WARNING_SIGN);
 }
 
 DEFINE_TEST_MAIN(LOG_INFO);