diff --git a/scripts/scenarios/start-app.ts b/scripts/scenarios/start-app.ts
index 63f9cb9ddd..03fffe61ad 100644
--- a/scripts/scenarios/start-app.ts
+++ b/scripts/scenarios/start-app.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,16 @@ export const prepareHome = Effect.fn("startApp.prepareHome")(function* (home: st
     yield* fs.writeFileString(shim, HOST_LABEL_SHIM);
     yield* fs.chmod(shim, 0o755);
   }
+  const probeShim = path.join(home, "bin/systemd-run");
+  const fault = path.join(home, "probe-stalled");
+  yield* fs.writeFileString(fault, process.env.T3_SCOPE_VARIANT ?? "both");
+  yield* fs.writeFileString(probeShim, `#!/bin/sh
+case "$*" in
+  *"-- true") if [ -f "${fault}" ]; then case "$(cat "${fault}"):$*" in both:*|oom:*OOMPolicy=stop*) sleep 30; exit 1;; esac; fi ;;
+esac
+exec /usr/bin/systemd-run "$@"
+`);
+  yield* fs.chmod(probeShim, 0o755);
   const noModel = path.join(home, "bin/no-model");
   yield* fs.writeFileString(noModel, "#!/bin/sh\necho 'scenarios run no model' >&2\nexit 1\n");
   yield* fs.chmod(noModel, 0o755);