diff --git a/Sources/ContainerizationOS/Path.swift b/Sources/ContainerizationOS/Path.swift
index 0f7e2628..21a93a4f 100644
--- a/Sources/ContainerizationOS/Path.swift
+++ b/Sources/ContainerizationOS/Path.swift
@@ -21,14 +21,18 @@ import Foundation
 public struct Path {
     /// lookPath looks up an executable's path from $PATH
     public static func lookPath(_ name: String) -> URL? {
-        lookup(name, path: getPath())
+        lookup(name, path: getCurrentPath())
+    }
+
+    public static func lookPath(_ name: String, path: String) -> URL? {
+        lookup(name, path: path)
     }
 
     // getEnv returns the default environment of the process
     // with the default $PATH added for the context of a macOS application bundle
     public static func getEnv() -> [String: String] {
         var env = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment
-        env["PATH"] = getPath()
+        env["PATH"] = getCurrentPath()
         return env
     }
 
@@ -58,14 +62,17 @@ public struct Path {
     }
 
     /// getPath returns $PATH for the current process
-    private static func getPath() -> String {
+    public static func getCurrentPath() -> String {
         let env = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment
         return env["PATH"] ?? "/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"
     }
 
     // findPath returns a string containing the 'PATH' environment variable
-    private static func findPath(_ env: [String]) -> String? {
-        env.first(where: { path in
+    public static func findPath(_ env: [String]?) -> String? {
+        guard let env = env else {
+            return nil
+        }
+        return env.first(where: { path in
             let split = path.split(separator: "=")
             return split.count == 2 && split[0] == "PATH"
         })
diff --git a/vminitd/Sources/vmexec/RunCommand.swift b/vminitd/Sources/vmexec/RunCommand.swift
index 55010018..f4133ce5 100644
--- a/vminitd/Sources/vmexec/RunCommand.swift
+++ b/vminitd/Sources/vmexec/RunCommand.swift
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ struct RunCommand: ParsableCommand {
         try App.setPermissions(user: process.user)
 
         // Finally execve the container process.
-        try App.exec(process: process)
+        try App.exec(process: process, currentEnv: process.env)
     }
 
     private func execInNamespace(spec: ContainerizationOCI.Spec, log: Logger) throws {
diff --git a/vminitd/Sources/vmexec/vmexec.swift b/vminitd/Sources/vmexec/vmexec.swift
index 13e8e2a1..199a29ed 100644
--- a/vminitd/Sources/vmexec/vmexec.swift
+++ b/vminitd/Sources/vmexec/vmexec.swift
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import ArgumentParser
 import ContainerizationError
 import ContainerizationOCI
+import ContainerizationOS
 import Foundation
 import LCShim
 import Logging
@@ -71,8 +72,14 @@ extension App {
         }
     }
 
-    static func exec(process: ContainerizationOCI.Process) throws {
-        let executable = strdup(process.args[0])
+    static func exec(process: ContainerizationOCI.Process, currentEnv: [String]? = nil) throws {
+        // lookup executable
+        let path = Path.findPath(currentEnv) ?? Path.getCurrentPath()
+        guard let resolvedExecutable = Path.lookPath(process.args[0], path: path) else {
+            throw App.Failure(message: "Failed to find target executable \(process.args[0])")
+        }
+
+        let executable = strdup(resolvedExecutable.path())
         var argv = process.args.map { strdup($0) }
         argv += [nil]