diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-free-runner.yaml b/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-free-runner.yaml
index 153ec53b5b..0d79d463e3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-free-runner.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-free-runner.yaml
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ jobs:
           { vmm: clh-runtime-rs, containerd_version: latest },
           { vmm: clh-runtime-rs, containerd_version: minimum },
           { vmm: qemu-nvidia-cpu, containerd_version: latest },
-          { vmm: qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs, containerd_version: latest },
+          { vmm: qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs, containerd_version: latest, snapshotter: erofs, erofs_mode: memory, erofs_dmverity: dmverity },
         ]
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-free-runner-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ jobs:
       CONTAINER_ENGINE_VERSION: ${{ matrix.environment.containerd_version }}
       SNAPSHOTTER: ${{ matrix.environment.snapshotter }}
       EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE: ${{ matrix.environment.erofs_mode }}
+      EROFS_DMVERITY: ${{ matrix.environment.erofs_dmverity }}
       EROFS_MERGE_MODE: ${{ matrix.environment.erofs_merge_mode }}
       GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
     steps:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-nvidia-cpu-arm64.yaml b/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-nvidia-cpu-arm64.yaml
index 0c67b51966..98847322b4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-nvidia-cpu-arm64.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-nvidia-cpu-arm64.yaml
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         environment: [
-          { name: nvidia-cpu, vmm: qemu-nvidia-cpu, runner: arm64-nvidia-gh200 },
-          { name: nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs, vmm: qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs, runner: arm64-nvidia-gh200 },
+          { name: nvidia-cpu, vmm: qemu-nvidia-cpu, runner: arm64-nvidia-gh200, snapshotter: "" },
+          { name: nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs, vmm: qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs, runner: arm64-nvidia-gh200, snapshotter: "erofs" },
         ]
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ jobs:
       KUBERNETES: kubeadm
       K8S_TEST_HOST_TYPE: baremetal
       TARGET_ARCH: aarch64
+      SNAPSHOTTER: ${{ matrix.environment.snapshotter }}
+      EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE: ${{ matrix.environment.snapshotter == 'erofs' && 'memory' || '' }}
+      EROFS_DMVERITY: ${{ matrix.environment.snapshotter == 'erofs' && 'dmverity' || '' }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
         with:
diff --git a/src/runtime-rs/Makefile b/src/runtime-rs/Makefile
index 613b85bd79..5250633d4e 100644
--- a/src/runtime-rs/Makefile
+++ b/src/runtime-rs/Makefile
@@ -149,6 +149,12 @@ ifeq ($(ARCH), aarch64)
     FIRMWAREPATH_NV := $(PREFIXDEPS)/share/$(EDK2_NAME)/AAVMF_CODE.fd
 endif
 
+# The CPU-only NVIDIA runtime class does not need UEFI firmware (no OVMF/AAVMF).
+# Use dedicated empty variables so it does not inherit the generic firmware
+# paths; parity with src/runtime/Makefile FIRMWAREPATH_NV_CPU.
+FIRMWAREPATH_NV_CPU :=
+FIRMWAREVOLUMEPATH_NV_CPU :=
+
 KERNELVERITYPARAMS ?= ""
 
 # TDX
@@ -204,6 +210,7 @@ DEFENABLEANNOTATIONS_COCO := [\"enable_iommu\", \"kernel_params\", \"kernel_veri
 DEFDISABLEGUESTSECCOMP := true
 DEFEMPTYDIRMODE := shared-fs
 DEFEMPTYDIRMODE_COCO := block-encrypted
+DEFEMPTYDIRMODE_NV := block-plain
 ##VAR DEFAULTEXPFEATURES=[features] Default experimental features enabled
 DEFAULTEXPFEATURES := []
 DEFDISABLESELINUX := false
@@ -703,7 +710,9 @@ USER_VARS += KERNELPATH
 USER_VARS += KERNELVIRTIOFSPATH
 USER_VARS += FIRMWAREPATH
 USER_VARS += FIRMWAREPATH_NV
+USER_VARS += FIRMWAREPATH_NV_CPU
 USER_VARS += FIRMWAREVOLUMEPATH
+USER_VARS += FIRMWAREVOLUMEPATH_NV_CPU
 USER_VARS += MACHINEACCELERATORS
 USER_VARS += CPUFEATURES
 USER_VARS += DEFMACHINETYPE_CLH
@@ -751,6 +760,7 @@ USER_VARS += DEFNETWORKMODEL_QEMU
 USER_VARS += DEFNETWORKMODEL_FC
 USER_VARS += DEFEMPTYDIRMODE
 USER_VARS += DEFEMPTYDIRMODE_COCO
+USER_VARS += DEFEMPTYDIRMODE_NV
 USER_VARS += DEFDISABLEGUESTSECCOMP
 USER_VARS += DEFDISABLESELINUX
 USER_VARS += DEFDISABLEGUESTSELINUX
diff --git a/src/runtime-rs/config/configuration-qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs.toml.in b/src/runtime-rs/config/configuration-qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs.toml.in
index 5e7318109d..899e469169 100644
--- a/src/runtime-rs/config/configuration-qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs.toml.in
+++ b/src/runtime-rs/config/configuration-qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs.toml.in
@@ -65,13 +65,13 @@ kernel_verity_params = "@KERNELVERITYPARAMS_NV@"
 
 # Path to the firmware.
 # If you want that qemu uses the default firmware leave this option empty
-firmware = "@FIRMWAREPATH@"
+firmware = "@FIRMWAREPATH_NV_CPU@"
 
 # Path to the firmware volume.
 # firmware TDVF or OVMF can be split into FIRMWARE_VARS.fd (UEFI variables
 # as configuration) and FIRMWARE_CODE.fd (UEFI program image). UEFI variables
 # can be customized per each user while UEFI code is kept same.
-firmware_volume = "@FIRMWAREVOLUMEPATH@"
+firmware_volume = "@FIRMWAREVOLUMEPATH_NV_CPU@"
 
 # Machine accelerators
 # comma-separated list of machine accelerators to pass to the hypervisor.
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ disable_block_device_use = @DEFDISABLEBLOCK@
 #   - virtio-fs (default)
 #   - virtio-fs-nydus
 #   - none
-shared_fs = "@DEFSHAREDFS_QEMU_VIRTIOFS@"
+shared_fs = "none"
 
 # Path to vhost-user-fs daemon.
 virtio_fs_daemon = "@DEFVIRTIOFSDAEMON@"
@@ -808,7 +808,7 @@ vfio_mode = "@DEFVFIOMODE_NV@"
 #   - block-plain
 #     Plugs a block device to be mounted directly in the guest.
 #
-emptydir_mode = "@DEFEMPTYDIRMODE@"
+emptydir_mode = "@DEFEMPTYDIRMODE_NV@"
 
 # Enabled experimental feature list, format: ["a", "b"].
 # Experimental features are features not stable enough for production,
diff --git a/tests/common.bash b/tests/common.bash
index 36f15a72a6..708cbc7ae0 100644
--- a/tests/common.bash
+++ b/tests/common.bash
@@ -807,6 +807,31 @@ function enabling_hypervisor() {
 	export KATA_CONFIG_PATH="${DEST_KATA_CONFIG}"
 }
 
+# Docker and nerdctl smoke tests exercise Kata through the default overlayfs
+# snapshotter path. Keep NVIDIA runtime-rs on virtio-fs for those tests; the
+# shared_fs=none + EROFS snapshotter path is covered by Kubernetes CI instead.
+function configure_nvidia_runtime_rs_shared_fs_dropin() {
+	case "${KATA_HYPERVISOR:-}" in
+		qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs) ;;
+		*) return 0 ;;
+	esac
+
+	local -r cfg="${KATA_CONFIG_PATH:-}"
+	[[ -z "${cfg}" || ! -e "${cfg}" ]] && return 0
+
+	local -r dropin_dir="$(dirname "${cfg}")/config.d"
+	local -r dropin_path="${dropin_dir}/99-nvidia-runtime-rs-shared-fs.toml"
+
+	info "Configuring NVIDIA runtime-rs shared-fs smoke test via ${dropin_path}"
+	sudo mkdir -p "${dropin_dir}"
+	sudo tee "${dropin_path}" >/dev/null <<EOF
+[hypervisor.qemu]
+shared_fs = "virtio-fs"
+
+[runtime]
+emptydir_mode = "shared-fs"
+EOF
+}
 
 function check_containerd_config_for_kata() {
 	declare -r containerd_path="/etc/containerd/config.toml"
diff --git a/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh b/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh
index ec32e70357..23adc07ef6 100644
--- a/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh
+++ b/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh
@@ -864,24 +864,35 @@ function helm_helper() {
 				die "EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE is only supported with SNAPSHOTTER=erofs"
 			fi
 
-			local erofs_default_size
-			case "${EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE}" in
-				disk)
-					erofs_default_size="10G"
-					;;
-				memory)
-					erofs_default_size="0"
-					;;
-				*)
-					die "Unsupported EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE: ${EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE}"
-					;;
-			esac
+			# Honor an erofs snapshotter drop-in already shipped by the base
+			# values file (e.g. try-kata-nvidia-cpu.values.yaml pins the
+			# memory-backed default_size and disables fs-verity, which cannot
+			# be guaranteed on an arbitrary node's backing filesystem). Only
+			# synthesize the default drop-in when the profile does not provide
+			# its own.
+			local existing_dropin
+			existing_dropin="$(yq -r '.containerd.userDropIn // ""' "${values_yaml}")"
 
-			HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN="[plugins.'io.containerd.snapshotter.v1.erofs']"$'\n'
-			HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN+="  default_size = \"${erofs_default_size}\""
+			if [[ -z "${existing_dropin//[[:space:]]/}" ]]; then
+				local erofs_default_size
+				case "${EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE}" in
+					disk)
+						erofs_default_size="10G"
+						;;
+					memory)
+						erofs_default_size="0"
+						;;
+					*)
+						die "Unsupported EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE: ${EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE}"
+						;;
+				esac
 
-			HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN="${HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN}" \
-				yq -i '.containerd.userDropIn = strenv(HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN)' "${values_yaml}"
+				HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN="[plugins.'io.containerd.snapshotter.v1.erofs']"$'\n'
+				HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN+="  default_size = \"${erofs_default_size}\""
+
+				HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN="${HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN}" \
+					yq -i '.containerd.userDropIn = strenv(HELM_CONTAINERD_USER_DROP_IN)' "${values_yaml}"
+			fi
 
 			# Propagate rwlayer backing mode to kata-deploy.
 			yq -i ".snapshotter.erofsSnapshotterMode = \"${EROFS_SNAPSHOTTER_MODE}\"" "${values_yaml}"
diff --git a/tests/hypervisor_helpers.sh b/tests/hypervisor_helpers.sh
index db60c976dc..209ecbcf15 100644
--- a/tests/hypervisor_helpers.sh
+++ b/tests/hypervisor_helpers.sh
@@ -122,6 +122,21 @@ function is_confidential_runtime_class() {
 	fi
 }
 
+# Runtime classes that boot with shared_fs=none, where the host cannot read
+# guest files directly. Data such as a container's termination log must then be
+# retrieved over the agent GetDiagnosticData RPC instead of a shared filesystem.
+# This covers the confidential runtime classes and the non-confidential NVIDIA
+# CPU runtime-rs handler. The plain qemu-nvidia-cpu (Go) class still uses
+# virtio-fs, so it is intentionally excluded.
+function is_shared_fs_none_runtime_class() {
+	local hypervisor="${1:-${KATA_HYPERVISOR}}"
+	if is_confidential_runtime_class "${hypervisor}"; then
+		return 0
+	fi
+	[[ "${hypervisor}" == "qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs" ]] && return 0
+	return 1
+}
+
 # Runtime classes that boot a measured (dm-verity) rootfs: the confidential
 # classes plus the CPU-only NVIDIA classes, which boot the verity-backed
 # nvidia base image without being confidential.
diff --git a/tests/integration/docker/gha-run.sh b/tests/integration/docker/gha-run.sh
index 09693052cc..2dffd7e6e3 100755
--- a/tests/integration/docker/gha-run.sh
+++ b/tests/integration/docker/gha-run.sh
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ function run() {
 	info "Running docker smoke test tests using ${KATA_HYPERVISOR} hypervisor"
 
 	enabling_hypervisor
+	configure_nvidia_runtime_rs_shared_fs_dropin
 	enable_kata_debug
 
 	info "Running docker with runc"
diff --git a/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh b/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh
index 274d1b6a76..fa6059e511 100755
--- a/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh
+++ b/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh
@@ -200,6 +200,10 @@ function deploy_kata() {
 		EXPERIMENTAL_FORCE_GUEST_PULL=false
 	fi
 
+	if [[ "${KATA_HYPERVISOR}" == "qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs" ]] && [[ -z "${SNAPSHOTTER}" ]]; then
+		SNAPSHOTTER="erofs"
+	fi
+
 	ANNOTATIONS="default_vcpus"
 	if [[ "${KATA_HYPERVISOR}" == *azure* ]]; then
 		ANNOTATIONS="image kernel default_vcpus cc_init_data"
diff --git a/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-termination-log.bats b/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-termination-log.bats
index 2c398f518b..3c0ae2ab5c 100644
--- a/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-termination-log.bats
+++ b/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-termination-log.bats
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 #
 # Test termination log propagation via GetDiagnosticData RPC.
-# These tests target shared_fs=none configurations (e.g. qemu-coco-dev)
-# where the host cannot directly read guest files.
+# These tests target shared_fs=none configurations (e.g. qemu-coco-dev or the
+# NVIDIA CPU runtime-rs handler) where the host cannot directly read guest
+# files.
 
 load "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/lib.sh"
 load "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../../common.bash"
@@ -14,9 +15,11 @@ load "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/tests_common.sh"
 load "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/confidential_common.sh"
 
 setup() {
-	# These tests only make sense on CoCo platforms (shared_fs=none).
-	if ! is_confidential_runtime_class; then
-		skip "Test requires a CoCo runtime class (shared_fs=none)"
+	# These tests only make sense on shared_fs=none configurations, where the
+	# host cannot read guest files directly and the termination log has to be
+	# fetched over the agent GetDiagnosticData RPC.
+	if ! is_shared_fs_none_runtime_class; then
+		skip "Test requires a shared_fs=none runtime class"
 	fi
 
 	setup_common || die "setup_common failed"
@@ -95,6 +98,13 @@ wait_for_pod_terminated() {
 }
 
 @test "Termination log: request blocked by default CoCo policy" {
+	# The default-deny behaviour is specific to the confidential runtime
+	# classes; non-confidential shared_fs=none classes (e.g. NVIDIA CPU
+	# runtime-rs) do not ship a default policy that blocks the RPC.
+	if ! is_confidential_runtime_class; then
+		skip "Default-deny policy check only applies to CoCo runtime classes"
+	fi
+
 	if ! auto_generate_policy_enabled; then
 		echo "# Skipping default CoCo policy check: requires AUTO_GENERATE_POLICY=yes" >&3
 		return 0
@@ -128,7 +138,7 @@ wait_for_pod_terminated() {
 }
 
 teardown() {
-	if ! is_confidential_runtime_class; then
+	if ! is_shared_fs_none_runtime_class; then
 		return
 	fi
 
diff --git a/tests/integration/nerdctl/gha-run.sh b/tests/integration/nerdctl/gha-run.sh
index 5790cae3de..5a4dadde88 100755
--- a/tests/integration/nerdctl/gha-run.sh
+++ b/tests/integration/nerdctl/gha-run.sh
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ function run() {
 	sudo nerdctl network create "${net2}"
 
 	enabling_hypervisor
+	configure_nvidia_runtime_rs_shared_fs_dropin
 
 	if [[ -n "${GITHUB_ENV:-}" ]]; then
 		start_time=$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/helm-chart/kata-deploy/try-kata-nvidia-cpu.values.yaml b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/helm-chart/kata-deploy/try-kata-nvidia-cpu.values.yaml
index 991c96cb7b..d7505e55cd 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/helm-chart/kata-deploy/try-kata-nvidia-cpu.values.yaml
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/helm-chart/kata-deploy/try-kata-nvidia-cpu.values.yaml
@@ -15,7 +15,35 @@ debug: false
 deploymentMode: job
 
 snapshotter:
-  setup: []
+  setup: ["erofs"]
+  # The NVIDIA CPU runtime-rs handler runs with shared_fs=none and uses the
+  # EROFS snapshotter with memory-backed rw layers and dm-verity for lower
+  # (image) layer integrity.
+  erofsSnapshotterMode: "memory"
+  erofsDmverity: true
+
+# EROFS fs-verity requires the backing filesystem to support fs-verity, and we
+# cannot guarantee that on an arbitrary node. Rather than gate this profile on a
+# host feature we do not control, we disable fs-verity so it works on the widest
+# possible range of setups; we take that hit deliberately to keep the profile
+# generic. Combined with memory-backed EROFS rw layers, ship this as the default
+# containerd erofs snapshotter drop-in for the NVIDIA CPU profile so it does not
+# need to be injected out-of-band. It is loaded after kata-deploy's generated
+# config, so it overrides the built-in enable_fsverity default.
+#
+# NOTE: This drop-in targets containerd's built-in EROFS snapshotter, which is
+# only available on containerd >= 2.2.0 (config version 3, using the
+# auto-imported conf.d drop-in mechanism). This is the same minimum kata-deploy
+# enforces for the EROFS snapshotter (see check_containerd_erofs_version_support:
+# "In order to use erofs-snapshotter containerd must be 2.2.0 or newer"). On
+# older containerd releases the erofs snapshotter plugin does not exist and this
+# specific "[plugins.'io.containerd.snapshotter.v1.erofs']" key layout will not
+# be recognized, so do not expect this profile to work there.
+containerd:
+  userDropIn: |
+    [plugins.'io.containerd.snapshotter.v1.erofs']
+      enable_fsverity = false
+      default_size = "0"
 
 # Enable NVIDIA CPU shims
 # Disable all shims at once, then enable only the ones we need.
@@ -38,12 +66,12 @@ shims:
       - arm64
     allowedHypervisorAnnotations: []
     containerd:
-      snapshotter: ""
+      snapshotter: "erofs"
 
 # Default shim per architecture.
 defaultShim:
-  amd64: qemu-nvidia-cpu
-  arm64: qemu-nvidia-cpu
+  amd64: qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs
+  arm64: qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs
 
 runtimeClasses:
   enabled: true
diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/shim-components.json b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/shim-components.json
index 3ef05a82b2..085aa8ed06 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/shim-components.json
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/shim-components.json
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
     },
     "qemu-nvidia-cpu-runtime-rs": {
       "x86_64":  ["shim-v2-rust", "qemu", "virtiofsd", "kernel-nvidia-gpu", "rootfs-image-nvidia"],
-      "aarch64": ["shim-v2-rust", "qemu", "virtiofsd", "kernel-nvidia-gpu", "rootfs-image-nvidia", "ovmf"]
+      "aarch64": ["shim-v2-rust", "qemu", "virtiofsd", "kernel-nvidia-gpu", "rootfs-image-nvidia"]
     },
     "qemu-nvidia-gpu-snp": {
       "x86_64": ["shim-v2-go", "qemu-snp-experimental", "kernel-nvidia-gpu", "rootfs-image-nvidia-gpu-confidential", "ovmf-sev"]