diff --git a/file.c b/file.c
index 6aa7dfb720..12299adad6 100644
--- a/file.c
+++ b/file.c
@@ -5959,7 +5959,7 @@ ruby_is_fd_loadable(int fd)
     if (S_ISREG(st.st_mode))
 	return 1;
 
-    if (S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode))
+    if (S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode) || S_ISCHR(st.st_mode))
 	return -1;
 
     if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode))
diff --git a/test/ruby/test_rubyoptions.rb b/test/ruby/test_rubyoptions.rb
index ddfd5f1883..e6659d4c30 100644
--- a/test/ruby/test_rubyoptions.rb
+++ b/test/ruby/test_rubyoptions.rb
@@ -1020,4 +1020,9 @@ class TestRubyOptions < Test::Unit::TestCase
       end
     end
   end
+
+  def test_null_script
+    skip "#{IO::NULL} is not a character device" unless File.chardev?(IO::NULL)
+    assert_in_out_err([IO::NULL], success: true)
+  end
 end