diff --git a/libcontainer/rootfs_linux.go b/libcontainer/rootfs_linux.go
index ef764df5f..6a7bd86ba 100644
--- a/libcontainer/rootfs_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/rootfs_linux.go
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ func mountCgroupV2(m mountEntry, c *mountConfig) error {
 		// Mask `/sys/fs/cgroup` to ensure it is read-only, even when `/sys` is mounted
 		// with `rbind,ro` (`runc spec --rootless` produces `rbind,ro` for `/sys`).
 		err = utils.WithProcfdFile(m.dstFile, func(procfd string) error {
-			return maskPaths([]string{procfd}, c.label)
+			return maskPaths(c.root, []string{procfd}, c.label)
 		})
 	}
 	return err
@@ -1333,7 +1333,7 @@ func verifyDevNull(f *os.File) error {
 // mounts ( proc/kcore ).
 // For files, maskPath bind mounts /dev/null over the top of the specified path.
 // For directories, maskPath mounts read-only tmpfs over the top of the specified path.
-func maskPaths(paths []string, mountLabel string) error {
+func maskPaths(rootFd *os.File, paths []string, mountLabel string) error {
 	devNull, err := os.OpenFile("/dev/null", unix.O_PATH, 0)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("can't mask paths: %w", err)
@@ -1346,6 +1346,17 @@ func maskPaths(paths []string, mountLabel string) error {
 	procSelfFd, closer := utils.ProcThreadSelf("fd/")
 	defer closer()
 
+	var (
+		sharedMaskFile *os.File
+		sharedMaskSrc  *mountSource
+		bindFailed     bool
+	)
+	defer func() {
+		if sharedMaskFile != nil {
+			_ = sharedMaskFile.Close()
+		}
+	}()
+	maskedPaths := make(map[string]struct{})
 	for _, path := range paths {
 		// Open the target path; skip if it doesn't exist.
 		dstFh, err := os.OpenFile(path, unix.O_PATH|unix.O_CLOEXEC, 0)
@@ -1360,11 +1371,43 @@ func maskPaths(paths []string, mountLabel string) error {
 			dstFh.Close()
 			return fmt.Errorf("can't mask path %q: %w", path, err)
 		}
+		// skip duplicate masked paths.
+		cleanPath := pathrs.LexicallyCleanPath(path)
+		if _, ok := maskedPaths[cleanPath]; ok {
+			dstFh.Close()
+			continue
+		}
+		maskedPaths[cleanPath] = struct{}{}
+
 		var dstType string
 		if st.IsDir() {
 			// Destination is a directory: bind mount a ro tmpfs over it.
 			dstType = "dir"
-			err = mount("tmpfs", path, "tmpfs", unix.MS_RDONLY, label.FormatMountLabel("", mountLabel))
+			if !bindFailed && sharedMaskSrc != nil {
+				dstFd := filepath.Join(procSelfFd, strconv.Itoa(int(dstFh.Fd())))
+				err = mountViaFds("", sharedMaskSrc, path, dstFd, "", unix.MS_BIND, "")
+				if err != nil {
+					// A bind-mount inherits MNT_READONLY from the source vfsmount,
+					// but if it fails fall back to individual tmpfs mounts.
+					bindFailed = true
+					logrus.WithError(err).Warn("maskPaths: shared tmpfs bind-mount failed, falling back to per-directory tmpfs")
+				}
+			}
+			if bindFailed || sharedMaskSrc == nil {
+				err = mount("tmpfs", path, "tmpfs", unix.MS_RDONLY, label.FormatMountLabel("nr_blocks=1,nr_inodes=1", mountLabel))
+				if err == nil && !bindFailed && sharedMaskSrc == nil {
+					// Establish this mount as the reusable shared source. reopenAfterMount
+					// resolves the underlying inode via procfs and re-opens it through
+					// rootFd, so the resulting fd is anchored to the real path inside the
+					// container rootfs even if path was a /proc/self/fd/N alias.
+					reopened, err := reopenAfterMount(rootFd, dstFh, unix.O_PATH|unix.O_CLOEXEC)
+					if err != nil {
+						return fmt.Errorf("can't reopen shared directory mask: %w", err)
+					}
+					sharedMaskFile = reopened
+					sharedMaskSrc = &mountSource{Type: mountSourcePlain, file: sharedMaskFile}
+				}
+			}
 		} else {
 			// Destination is a file: mount it to /dev/null.
 			dstType = "path"
diff --git a/libcontainer/standard_init_linux.go b/libcontainer/standard_init_linux.go
index 570472bd4..116e659a8 100644
--- a/libcontainer/standard_init_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/standard_init_linux.go
@@ -142,8 +142,16 @@ func (l *linuxStandardInit) Init() error {
 		}
 	}
 
-	if err := maskPaths(l.config.Config.MaskPaths, l.config.Config.MountLabel); err != nil {
-		return err
+	if len(l.config.Config.MaskPaths) > 0 {
+		rootFd, err := os.OpenFile("/", unix.O_DIRECTORY|unix.O_CLOEXEC|unix.O_PATH, 0)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("open rootfs handle for masked paths: %w", err)
+		}
+		err = maskPaths(rootFd, l.config.Config.MaskPaths, l.config.Config.MountLabel)
+		rootFd.Close()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 	pdeath, err := system.GetParentDeathSignal()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/tests/integration/mask.bats b/tests/integration/mask.bats
index 5783332ea..782edbb30 100644
--- a/tests/integration/mask.bats
+++ b/tests/integration/mask.bats
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ function setup() {
 	setup_busybox
 
 	# Create fake rootfs.
-	mkdir rootfs/testdir
+	mkdir rootfs/testdir rootfs/testdir2 rootfs/testdir3
 	echo "Forbidden information!" >rootfs/testfile
 
 	# add extra masked paths
@@ -55,6 +55,20 @@ function teardown() {
 	[[ "${output}" == *"Operation not permitted"* ]]
 }
 
+@test "mask paths [duplicate paths]" {
+	update_config '(.. | select(.maskedPaths? != null)) .maskedPaths += ["/testdir", "/testfile"]'
+	runc run -d --console-socket "$CONSOLE_SOCKET" test_busybox
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+
+	runc exec test_busybox sh -c "mount | grep /testdir -c"
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+	[[ "${output}" == "1" ]]
+
+	runc exec test_busybox sh -c "mount | grep /testfile -c"
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+	[[ "${output}" == "1" ]]
+}
+
 @test "mask paths [prohibit symlink /proc]" {
 	ln -s /symlink rootfs/proc
 	runc run -d --console-socket "$CONSOLE_SOCKET" test_busybox
@@ -73,3 +87,33 @@ function teardown() {
 	# so we merely check that it fails, and do not check the exact error
 	# message like for /proc above.
 }
+
+@test "mask paths [directories share tmpfs]" {
+	update_config '(.. | select(.maskedPaths? != null)) .maskedPaths += ["/testdir2", "/testdir3"]'
+	runc run -d --console-socket "$CONSOLE_SOCKET" test_busybox
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+
+	# shellcheck disable=SC2016
+	runc exec test_busybox sh -euc '
+		set -- $(stat -c %d /testdir /testdir2 /testdir3)
+		[ "$1" = "$2" ]
+		[ "$2" = "$3" ]
+	'
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+
+	runc exec test_busybox touch /testdir2/foo
+	[ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+	[[ "${output}" == *"Read-only file system"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "mask paths [directory with read-only rootfs]" {
+	update_config '(.. | select(.maskedPaths? != null)) .maskedPaths += ["/testdir2", "/testdir3"]'
+	update_config '.root.readonly = true'
+
+	runc run -d --console-socket "$CONSOLE_SOCKET" test_busybox
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+
+	runc exec test_busybox ls /testdir
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+	[ -z "$output" ]
+}