diff --git a/src/syscall/exec_pdeathsig_test.go b/src/syscall/exec_pdeathsig_test.go
index 46ce33443d..a907afd900 100644
--- a/src/syscall/exec_pdeathsig_test.go
+++ b/src/syscall/exec_pdeathsig_test.go
@@ -14,26 +14,26 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"os/signal"
+	"os/user"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"syscall"
 	"testing"
-	"time"
 )
 
-func TestDeathSignal(t *testing.T) {
-	if os.Getuid() != 0 {
-		t.Skip("skipping root only test")
-	}
-	if testing.Short() && testenv.Builder() != "" && os.Getenv("USER") == "swarming" {
-		// The Go build system's swarming user is known not to be root.
-		// Unfortunately, it sometimes appears as root due the current
-		// implementation of a no-network check using 'unshare -n -r'.
-		// Since this test does need root to work, we need to skip it.
-		t.Skip("skipping root only test on a non-root builder")
+// TestDeathSignalSetuid verifies that a command run with a different UID still
+// receives PDeathsig; it is a regression test for https://go.dev/issue/9686.
+func TestDeathSignalSetuid(t *testing.T) {
+	if testing.Short() {
+		t.Skipf("skipping test that copies its binary into temp dir")
 	}
 
-	// Copy the test binary to a location that a non-root user can read/execute
-	// after we drop privileges
+	// Copy the test binary to a location that another user can read/execute
+	// after we drop privileges.
+	//
+	// TODO(bcmills): Why do we believe that another users will be able to
+	// execute a binary in this directory? (It could be mounted noexec.)
 	tempDir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "TestDeathSignal")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("cannot create temporary directory: %v", err)
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@ func TestDeathSignal(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to close test binary %q, %v", tmpBinary, err)
 	}
 
-	cmd := exec.Command(tmpBinary)
-	cmd.Env = append(os.Environ(), "GO_DEATHSIG_PARENT=1")
+	cmd := testenv.Command(t, tmpBinary)
+	cmd.Env = append(cmd.Environ(), "GO_DEATHSIG_PARENT=1")
 	chldStdin, err := cmd.StdinPipe()
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to create new stdin pipe: %v", err)
@@ -71,10 +71,17 @@ func TestDeathSignal(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to create new stdout pipe: %v", err)
 	}
-	cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+	stderr := new(strings.Builder)
+	cmd.Stderr = stderr
 
 	err = cmd.Start()
-	defer cmd.Wait()
+	defer func() {
+		chldStdin.Close()
+		cmd.Wait()
+		if stderr.Len() > 0 {
+			t.Logf("stderr:\n%s", stderr)
+		}
+	}()
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to start first child process: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -84,21 +91,57 @@ func TestDeathSignal(t *testing.T) {
 	if got, err := chldPipe.ReadString('\n'); got == "start\n" {
 		syscall.Kill(cmd.Process.Pid, syscall.SIGTERM)
 
-		go func() {
-			time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
-			chldStdin.Close()
-		}()
-
 		want := "ok\n"
 		if got, err = chldPipe.ReadString('\n'); got != want {
 			t.Fatalf("expected %q, received %q, %v", want, got, err)
 		}
+	} else if got == "skip\n" {
+		t.Skipf("skipping: parent could not run child program as selected user")
 	} else {
 		t.Fatalf("did not receive start from child, received %q, %v", got, err)
 	}
 }
 
 func deathSignalParent() {
+	var (
+		u   *user.User
+		err error
+	)
+	if os.Getuid() == 0 {
+		tryUsers := []string{"nobody"}
+		if testenv.Builder() != "" {
+			tryUsers = append(tryUsers, "gopher")
+		}
+		for _, name := range tryUsers {
+			u, err = user.Lookup(name)
+			if err == nil {
+				break
+			}
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Lookup(%q): %v\n", name, err)
+		}
+	}
+	if u == nil {
+		// If we couldn't find an unprivileged user to run as, try running as
+		// the current user. (Empirically this still causes the call to Start to
+		// fail with a permission error if running as a non-root user on Linux.)
+		u, err = user.Current()
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
+	}
+
+	uid, err := strconv.ParseUint(u.Uid, 10, 32)
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "invalid UID: %v\n", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	gid, err := strconv.ParseUint(u.Gid, 10, 32)
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "invalid GID: %v\n", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
 	cmd := exec.Command(os.Args[0])
 	cmd.Env = append(os.Environ(),
 		"GO_DEATHSIG_PARENT=",
@@ -107,16 +150,18 @@ func deathSignalParent() {
 	cmd.Stdin = os.Stdin
 	cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
 	attrs := syscall.SysProcAttr{
-		Pdeathsig: syscall.SIGUSR1,
-		// UID/GID 99 is the user/group "nobody" on RHEL/Fedora and is
-		// unused on Ubuntu
-		Credential: &syscall.Credential{Uid: 99, Gid: 99},
+		Pdeathsig:  syscall.SIGUSR1,
+		Credential: &syscall.Credential{Uid: uint32(uid), Gid: uint32(gid)},
 	}
 	cmd.SysProcAttr = &attrs
 
-	err := cmd.Start()
-	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "death signal parent error: %v\n", err)
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "starting process as user %q\n", u.Username)
+	if err := cmd.Start(); err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
+		if testenv.SyscallIsNotSupported(err) {
+			fmt.Println("skip")
+			os.Exit(0)
+		}
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 	cmd.Wait()