diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.qemu b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.qemu
index 0fc52d20d7..0f1fecc68e 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.qemu
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.qemu
@@ -85,7 +85,12 @@ _timed_wait_for()
     timeout=yes
 
     QEMU_STATUS[$h]=0
-    while IFS= read -t ${QEMU_COMM_TIMEOUT} resp <&${QEMU_OUT[$h]}
+    read_timeout="-t ${QEMU_COMM_TIMEOUT}"
+    if [ -n "${GDB_OPTIONS}" ]; then
+        read_timeout=
+    fi
+
+    while IFS= read ${read_timeout} resp <&${QEMU_OUT[$h]}
     do
         if [ -n "$capture_events" ]; then
             capture=0
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
index 609d82de89..d8582454de 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
@@ -166,8 +166,14 @@ _qemu_wrapper()
         if [ -n "${QEMU_NEED_PID}" ]; then
             echo $BASHPID > "${QEMU_TEST_DIR}/qemu-${_QEMU_HANDLE}.pid"
         fi
+
+        GDB=""
+        if [ -n "${GDB_OPTIONS}" ]; then
+            GDB="gdbserver ${GDB_OPTIONS}"
+        fi
+
         VALGRIND_QEMU="${VALGRIND_QEMU_VM}" _qemu_proc_exec "${VALGRIND_LOGFILE}" \
-            "$QEMU_PROG" $QEMU_OPTIONS "$@"
+            $GDB "$QEMU_PROG" $QEMU_OPTIONS "$@"
     )
     RETVAL=$?
     _qemu_proc_valgrind_log "${VALGRIND_LOGFILE}" $RETVAL