diff --git a/net/9p/trans_fd.c b/net/9p/trans_fd.c
index c4096b14d1595c534861d53d7d02bc347133f4bc..fec6c800c89880556471b04b71d4f825fd461cfb 100644
--- a/net/9p/trans_fd.c
+++ b/net/9p/trans_fd.c
@@ -821,11 +821,14 @@ static int p9_fd_open(struct p9_client *client, int rfd, int wfd)
 		goto out_free_ts;
 	if (!(ts->rd->f_mode & FMODE_READ))
 		goto out_put_rd;
+	/* prevent workers from hanging on IO when fd is a pipe */
+	ts->rd->f_flags |= O_NONBLOCK;
 	ts->wr = fget(wfd);
 	if (!ts->wr)
 		goto out_put_rd;
 	if (!(ts->wr->f_mode & FMODE_WRITE))
 		goto out_put_wr;
+	ts->wr->f_flags |= O_NONBLOCK;
 
 	client->trans = ts;
 	client->status = Connected;