diff --git a/src/node.cc b/src/node.cc
index e6be00eeb3c185f..1f0b41061fe0785 100644
--- a/src/node.cc
+++ b/src/node.cc
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <cstring>
+#include <filesystem>
 
 #include <string>
 #include <tuple>
@@ -844,10 +845,16 @@ static ExitCode InitializeNodeWithArgsInternal(
   auto file_path = node::Dotenv::GetPathFromArgs(*argv);
 
   if (file_path.has_value()) {
-    auto cwd = Environment::GetCwd(Environment::GetExecPath(*argv));
-    std::string path = cwd + kPathSeparator + file_path.value();
     CHECK(!per_process::v8_initialized);
-    per_process::dotenv_file.ParsePath(path);
+    auto filesystem_path = std::filesystem::path(*file_path);
+
+    if (filesystem_path.is_absolute()) {
+      per_process::dotenv_file.ParsePath(*file_path);
+    } else {
+      auto cwd = Environment::GetCwd(Environment::GetExecPath(*argv));
+      std::string path = cwd + kPathSeparator + file_path.value();
+      per_process::dotenv_file.ParsePath(path);
+    }
     per_process::dotenv_file.AssignNodeOptionsIfAvailable(&node_options);
   }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-dotenv-edge-cases.js b/test/parallel/test-dotenv-edge-cases.js
index 1d256799bfbb136..a1cf7d4dc7a8a50 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-dotenv-edge-cases.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-dotenv-edge-cases.js
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@
 
 const common = require('../common');
 const assert = require('node:assert');
+const path = require('node:path');
 const { describe, it } = require('node:test');
 
 const validEnvFilePath = '../fixtures/dotenv/valid.env';
 const relativePath = '../fixtures/dotenv/node-options.env';
+const absolutePath = path.join(__dirname, relativePath);
 
 describe('.env supports edge cases', () => {
 
@@ -35,4 +37,17 @@ describe('.env supports edge cases', () => {
     assert.strictEqual(child.code, 0);
   });
 
+  it('should support absolute paths', async () => {
+    const code = `
+      require('assert').strictEqual(process.env.CUSTOM_VARIABLE, 'hello-world');
+    `.trim();
+    const child = await common.spawnPromisified(
+      process.execPath,
+      [ `--env-file=${absolutePath}`, '--eval', code ],
+      { cwd: __dirname },
+    );
+    assert.strictEqual(child.stderr, '');
+    assert.strictEqual(child.code, 0);
+  });
+
 });