diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-kola-tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/run-kola-tests.yaml
index 1e636dc77c..9eb84816da 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-kola-tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-kola-tests.yaml
@@ -100,6 +100,9 @@ jobs:
           export QEMU_IMAGE_NAME="/work/flatcar_production_image.bin"
           export QEMU_UEFI_BIOS="/work/flatcar_production_qemu_uefi_efi_code.fd"
           export PARALLEL_TESTS=${PARALLEL_ARCH}
+          # The runner uses lxc containers for kola, and can't use loopback devices to
+          # prepare the serial console setting - this means that kola may miss some errors
+          export QEMU_KOLA_SKIP_MANGLE=true
           EOF
 
           export MAX_RETRIES=5
diff --git a/ci-automation/ci-config.env b/ci-automation/ci-config.env
index 5c5eaf188b..75b11d3d3c 100644
--- a/ci-automation/ci-config.env
+++ b/ci-automation/ci-config.env
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ CONTAINER_IMAGE_ROOT="/home/sdk/build/images"
 QEMU_IMAGE_NAME=${QEMU_IMAGE_NAME:-flatcar_production_image.bin}
 QEMU_PARALLEL="${PARALLEL_TESTS:-20}"
 
+# Whether kola can use loop devices to capture serial console output and check for error patterns
+QEMU_KOLA_SKIP_MANGLE="${QEMU_KOLA_SKIP_MANGLE:-}"
+
 # BIOS path within the SDK
 QEMU_BIOS="/usr/share/qemu/bios-256k.bin"
 
diff --git a/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu.sh b/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu.sh
index 99e9d2a9c2..732ac2897c 100755
--- a/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu.sh
+++ b/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu.sh
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ kola run \
     --qemu-image="${QEMU_IMAGE_NAME}" \
     --tapfile="${CIA_TAPFILE}" \
     --torcx-manifest="${CIA_TORCX_MANIFEST}" \
-    --qemu-skip-mangle \
+    ${QEMU_KOLA_SKIP_MANGLE:+--qemu-skip-mangle} \
     "${@}"
 
 set +x
diff --git a/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu_update.sh b/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu_update.sh
index f8fbce53b3..e5af4375aa 100755
--- a/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu_update.sh
+++ b/ci-automation/vendor-testing/qemu_update.sh
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ run_kola_tests() {
       --tapfile="${instance_tapfile}" \
       --torcx-manifest="${CIA_TORCX_MANIFEST}" \
       --update-payload=tmp/flatcar_test_update.gz \
-      --qemu-skip-mangle \
+      ${QEMU_KOLA_SKIP_MANGLE:+--qemu-skip-mangle} \
       cl.update.payload
 }