diff --git a/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/README b/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4fa0427196
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/README
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Test for tmp-file access after unlink
diff --git a/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/archives b/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/archives
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e4dbd75886
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/archives
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+_/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink
+_/src/libc
+_/src/vfs
+_/src/posix
diff --git a/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/hash b/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/hash
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0c3fb0a300
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/hash
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+2023-11-29 6169da302568a61b2d2f8b01b657879e9e51acb2
diff --git a/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/runtime b/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/runtime
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b1ed7b8c2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/recipes/pkg/test-libc_deferred_unlink/runtime
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+<runtime ram="4M" caps="200" binary="test-libc_deferred_unlink">
+
+	<fail after_seconds="30"/>
+	<succeed>child * exited with exit value 0</succeed>
+	<fail>Error: </fail>
+
+	<content>
+		<rom label="ld.lib.so"/>
+		<rom label="libc.lib.so"/>
+		<rom label="libm.lib.so"/>
+		<rom label="posix.lib.so"/>
+		<rom label="vfs.lib.so"/>
+		<rom label="test-libc_deferred_unlink"/>
+	</content>
+
+	<config>
+		<vfs>
+			<dir name="dev"> <log/> </dir>
+			<dir name="tmp"> <ram/> </dir>
+		</vfs>
+		<libc stdout="/dev/log" stderr="/dev/log"/>
+	</config>
+
+</runtime>
diff --git a/repos/libports/recipes/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink/content.mk b/repos/libports/recipes/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink/content.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..37a1d5a8fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/recipes/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink/content.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+SRC_DIR = src/test/libc_deferred_unlink
+
+include $(GENODE_DIR)/repos/base/recipes/src/content.inc
diff --git a/repos/libports/recipes/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink/hash b/repos/libports/recipes/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink/hash
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..64a7d494be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/recipes/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink/hash
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+2023-10-03 fdb0e5bff92af9d951b2bd293fd32b229b8e65b8
diff --git a/repos/libports/recipes/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink/used_apis b/repos/libports/recipes/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink/used_apis
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..30bd708b3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/recipes/src/test-libc_deferred_unlink/used_apis
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+posix
+libc
diff --git a/repos/libports/src/test/libc_deferred_unlink/main.c b/repos/libports/src/test/libc_deferred_unlink/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5efce60b42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/src/test/libc_deferred_unlink/main.c
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * \brief  Access tmp file after unlink
+ * \author Norman Feske
+ * \date   2023-12-08
+ */
+
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2023 Genode Labs GmbH
+ *
+ * This file is part of the Genode OS framework, which is distributed
+ * under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.
+ */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <dirent.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <assert.h>
+
+static int dir_entry_exists()
+{
+	DIR *dir = opendir("/tmp");
+	struct dirent *dirent = NULL;
+	for (;;) {
+		dirent = readdir(dir);
+		if (!dirent || (strcmp(dirent->d_name, "test") == 0))
+			break;
+	}
+	closedir(dir);
+	return (dirent != NULL);
+}
+
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+	char const * const path    = "/tmp/test";
+	char const * const content = "content of tmp file";
+
+	int const write_fd = open(path, O_RDWR|O_CREAT);
+	assert(write_fd >= 0);
+	assert(dir_entry_exists());
+
+	(void)unlink(path);
+	assert(!dir_entry_exists());
+
+	/* the open 'write_fd' keeps the vfs <ram> from unlinking the file now */
+	size_t const num_written_bytes = write(write_fd, content, strlen(content));
+
+	/* open same file for reading before closing the 'write_fd' */
+	int const read_fd = open(path, O_RDONLY);
+	assert(read_fd >= 0);
+
+	close(write_fd); /* 'read_fd' still references the file */
+
+	char buf[100];
+	size_t const num_read_bytes = read(read_fd, buf, sizeof(buf));
+	assert(num_read_bytes == num_written_bytes);
+
+	close(read_fd);
+
+	/* since no fd refers to the file any longer, it is phyiscally removed now */
+	int const expect_no_fd = open(path, O_RDONLY);
+	assert(expect_no_fd == -1);
+
+	{
+		FILE *tmp = tmpfile();
+		assert(tmp != NULL);
+		size_t fwrite_len = fwrite("123", 1, 3, tmp);
+		assert(fwrite_len == 3);
+		fclose(tmp);
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/repos/libports/src/test/libc_deferred_unlink/target.mk b/repos/libports/src/test/libc_deferred_unlink/target.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2983608e05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/libports/src/test/libc_deferred_unlink/target.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+TARGET = test-libc_deferred_unlink
+SRC_C  = main.c
+LIBS   = posix
diff --git a/repos/os/src/lib/vfs/ram_file_system.h b/repos/os/src/lib/vfs/ram_file_system.h
index 9b9ceada9d..a06984f81a 100644
--- a/repos/os/src/lib/vfs/ram_file_system.h
+++ b/repos/os/src/lib/vfs/ram_file_system.h
@@ -70,11 +70,17 @@ struct Vfs_ram::Io_handle final : public  Vfs_handle,
 	/* Track if this handle has modified its node */
 	bool modifying = false;
 
+	using Path = Genode::String<MAX_PATH_LEN>;
+
+	Path const path; /* needed for deferred unlink-on-close to look up the parent */
+
 	Io_handle(Vfs::File_system &fs,
 	          Allocator       &alloc,
 	          int              status_flags,
-	          Vfs_ram::Node   &node)
-	: Vfs_handle(fs, fs, alloc, status_flags), node(node)
+	          Vfs_ram::Node   &node,
+	          Path      const &path)
+	:
+		Vfs_handle(fs, fs, alloc, status_flags), node(node), path(path)
 	{ }
 };
 
@@ -122,6 +128,8 @@ class Vfs_ram::Node : private Genode::Avl_node<Node>
 
 		Vfs::Timestamp _modification_time { Vfs::Timestamp::INVALID };
 
+		bool _marked_as_unlinked = false;
+
 	public:
 
 		unsigned long inode;
@@ -155,8 +163,9 @@ class Vfs_ram::Node : private Genode::Avl_node<Node>
 				h->watch_response();
 		}
 
-		void unlink() { inode = 0; }
-		bool unlinked() const { return inode == 0; }
+		void mark_as_unlinked() { _marked_as_unlinked = true; }
+
+		bool marked_as_unlinked() const { return _marked_as_unlinked; }
 
 		bool update_modification_timestamp(Vfs::Timestamp time)
 		{
@@ -211,8 +220,10 @@ class Vfs_ram::Node : private Genode::Avl_node<Node>
 		 */
 		Node *index(size_t &i)
 		{
-			if (i-- == 0)
-				return this;
+			if (!_marked_as_unlinked) {
+				if (i-- == 0)
+					return this;
+			}
 
 			Node *n;
 
@@ -537,7 +548,7 @@ class Vfs::Ram_file_system : public Vfs::File_system
 
 			if (File * const file = dynamic_cast<File*>(node)) {
 				if (file->opened()) {
-					file->unlink();
+					file->mark_as_unlinked();
 					return;
 				}
 			} else if (Directory *dir = dynamic_cast<Directory*>(node)) {
@@ -547,6 +558,18 @@ class Vfs::Ram_file_system : public Vfs::File_system
 			destroy(_env.alloc(), node);
 		}
 
+		void _try_complete_unlink(Vfs_ram::Directory *parent_ptr, Vfs_ram::Node &node)
+		{
+			if (node.marked_as_unlinked() && !node.opened()) {
+				if (parent_ptr) {
+					parent_ptr->release(&node);
+					parent_ptr->notify();
+				}
+				node.notify();
+				remove(&node);
+			}
+		}
+
 	public:
 
 		Ram_file_system(Vfs::Env &env, Genode::Xml_node) : _env(env) { }
@@ -616,7 +639,10 @@ class Vfs::Ram_file_system : public Vfs::File_system
 			}
 
 			try {
-				*handle = new (alloc) Io_handle(*this, alloc, mode, *file);
+				Io_handle * const io_handle_ptr = new (alloc)
+					Io_handle(*this, alloc, mode, *file, path);
+				file->open(*io_handle_ptr);
+				*handle = io_handle_ptr;
 				return OPEN_OK;
 			} catch (Genode::Out_of_ram) {
 				if (create) {
@@ -671,8 +697,10 @@ class Vfs::Ram_file_system : public Vfs::File_system
 			}
 
 			try {
-				*handle = new (alloc) Io_handle(
-					*this, alloc, Io_handle::STATUS_RDONLY, *dir);
+				Io_handle * const io_handle_ptr = new (alloc)
+					Io_handle(*this, alloc, Io_handle::STATUS_RDONLY, *dir, path);
+				dir->open(*io_handle_ptr);
+				*handle = io_handle_ptr;
 				return OPENDIR_OK;
 			} catch (Genode::Out_of_ram) {
 				if (create) {
@@ -727,8 +755,10 @@ class Vfs::Ram_file_system : public Vfs::File_system
 			}
 
 			try {
-				*handle = new (alloc)
-					Io_handle(*this, alloc, Io_handle::STATUS_RDWR, *link);
+				Io_handle * const io_handle_ptr = new (alloc)
+					Io_handle(*this, alloc, Io_handle::STATUS_RDWR, *link, path);
+				link->open(*io_handle_ptr);
+				*handle = io_handle_ptr;
 				return OPENLINK_OK;
 			} catch (Genode::Out_of_ram) {
 				if (create) {
@@ -753,14 +783,15 @@ class Vfs::Ram_file_system : public Vfs::File_system
 			Vfs_ram::Node &node = ram_handle->node;
 			bool node_modified = ram_handle->modifying;
 
+			Vfs_ram::Directory * const parent_ptr = lookup_parent(ram_handle->path.string());
+
 			node.close(*ram_handle);
 			destroy(vfs_handle->alloc(), ram_handle);
 
-			if (node.unlinked() && !node.opened()) {
-				destroy(_env.alloc(), &node);
-			} else if (node_modified) {
+			if (node_modified)
 				node.notify();
-			}
+
+			_try_complete_unlink(parent_ptr, node);
 		}
 
 		Stat_result stat(char const *path, Stat &stat) override
@@ -855,10 +886,11 @@ class Vfs::Ram_file_system : public Vfs::File_system
 			if (!node)
 				return UNLINK_ERR_NO_ENTRY;
 
-			parent->release(node);
-			node->notify();
-			parent->notify();
-			remove(node);
+			/* defer unlink of a node that is still referenced by an Io_handle */
+			node->mark_as_unlinked();
+
+			_try_complete_unlink(parent, *node);
+
 			return UNLINK_OK;
 		}