diff --git a/src/crypto/crypto_util.cc b/src/crypto/crypto_util.cc
index 0d533ce42531d1..47945389b4068d 100644
--- a/src/crypto/crypto_util.cc
+++ b/src/crypto/crypto_util.cc
@@ -109,11 +109,13 @@ void InitCryptoOnce() {
 #ifndef OPENSSL_IS_BORINGSSL
   OPENSSL_INIT_SETTINGS* settings = OPENSSL_INIT_new();
 
+#if OPENSSL_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
   // --openssl-config=...
   if (!per_process::cli_options->openssl_config.empty()) {
     const char* conf = per_process::cli_options->openssl_config.c_str();
     OPENSSL_INIT_set_config_filename(settings, conf);
   }
+#endif
 
   OPENSSL_init_ssl(0, settings);
   OPENSSL_INIT_free(settings);
diff --git a/src/node.cc b/src/node.cc
index bf041fb682a2c2..b7dd3e10cdb1c9 100644
--- a/src/node.cc
+++ b/src/node.cc
@@ -1024,12 +1024,46 @@ InitializationResult InitializeOncePerProcess(int argc, char** argv) {
   // In the case of FIPS builds we should make sure
   // the random source is properly initialized first.
 #if OPENSSL_VERSION_MAJOR >= 3
-  if (EVP_default_properties_is_fips_enabled(nullptr)) {
+  // Call OPENSSL_init_crypto to initialize OPENSSL_INIT_LOAD_CONFIG to
+  // avoid the default behavior where errors raised during the parsing of the
+  // OpenSSL configuration file are not propagated and cannot be detected.
+  //
+  // If FIPS is configured the OpenSSL configuration file will have an .include
+  // pointing to the fipsmodule.cnf file generated by the openssl fipsinstall
+  // command. If the path to this file is incorrect no error will be reported.
+  //
+  // For Node.js this will mean that EntropySource will be called by V8 as part
+  // of its initalization process, and EntropySource will in turn call
+  // CheckEntropy. CheckEntropy will call RAND_status which will now always
+  // return 0, leading to an endless loop and the node process will appear to
+  // hang/freeze.
+  std::string env_openssl_conf;
+  credentials::SafeGetenv("OPENSSL_CONF", &env_openssl_conf);
+
+  bool has_cli_conf = !per_process::cli_options->openssl_config.empty();
+  if (has_cli_conf || !env_openssl_conf.empty()) {
+    OPENSSL_INIT_SETTINGS* settings = OPENSSL_INIT_new();
+    OPENSSL_INIT_set_config_file_flags(settings, CONF_MFLAGS_DEFAULT_SECTION);
+    if (has_cli_conf) {
+      const char* conf = per_process::cli_options->openssl_config.c_str();
+      OPENSSL_INIT_set_config_filename(settings, conf);
+    }
+    OPENSSL_init_crypto(OPENSSL_INIT_LOAD_CONFIG, settings);
+    OPENSSL_INIT_free(settings);
+
+    if (ERR_peek_error() != 0) {
+      result.exit_code = ERR_GET_REASON(ERR_peek_error());
+      result.early_return = true;
+      fprintf(stderr, "OpenSSL configuration error:\n");
+      ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
+      return result;
+    }
+  }
 #else
   if (FIPS_mode()) {
     OPENSSL_init();
-#endif
   }
+#endif
   // V8 on Windows doesn't have a good source of entropy. Seed it from
   // OpenSSL's pool.
   V8::SetEntropySource(crypto::EntropySource);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-cli-node-options.js b/test/parallel/test-cli-node-options.js
index 8fb15d3ba505c1..0e824fe073dc94 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-cli-node-options.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-cli-node-options.js
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ if (common.isLinux) {
 if (common.hasCrypto) {
   expectNoWorker('--use-openssl-ca', 'B\n');
   expectNoWorker('--use-bundled-ca', 'B\n');
-  expectNoWorker('--openssl-config=_ossl_cfg', 'B\n');
+  if (!common.hasOpenSSL3)
+    expectNoWorker('--openssl-config=_ossl_cfg', 'B\n');
 }
 
 // V8 options