diff --git a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
index 235d2b1febc..69510c1420f 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@ in
   osquery = handleTest ./osquery.nix {};
   osrm-backend = handleTest ./osrm-backend.nix {};
   ostree = handleTest ./ostree.nix {};
+  overlayfs = handleTest ./overlayfs.nix {};
   pam-oath-login = handleTest ./pam-oath-login.nix {};
   pam-u2f = handleTest ./pam-u2f.nix {};
   pantheon = handleTest ./pantheon.nix {};
diff --git a/nixos/tests/overlayfs.nix b/nixos/tests/overlayfs.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..99bb6b0f553
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/tests/overlayfs.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import ./make-test.nix ({ pkgs, ... }: {
+  name = "overlayfs";
+  meta.maintainers = with pkgs.stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ bachp ];
+
+  machine = { pkgs, ... }: {
+    virtualisation.emptyDiskImages = [ 512 ];
+    networking.hostId = "deadbeef";
+    environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ parted ];
+  };
+
+  testScript = ''
+    $machine->succeed("ls /dev");
+
+    $machine->succeed("mkdir -p /tmp/mnt");
+
+    # Test ext4 + overlayfs
+    $machine->succeed(
+
+      "mkfs.ext4 -F -L overlay-ext4 /dev/vdb",
+      "mount -t ext4 /dev/vdb /tmp/mnt",
+
+      "mkdir -p /tmp/mnt/upper /tmp/mnt/lower /tmp/mnt/work /tmp/mnt/merged",
+
+      # Setup some existing files
+      "echo 'Replace' > /tmp/mnt/lower/replace.txt",
+      "echo 'Append' > /tmp/mnt/lower/append.txt",
+      "echo 'Overwrite' > /tmp/mnt/lower/overwrite.txt",
+
+      "mount -t overlay overlay -o lowerdir=/tmp/mnt/lower,upperdir=/tmp/mnt/upper,workdir=/tmp/mnt/work /tmp/mnt/merged",
+
+      # Test new
+      "echo 'New' > /tmp/mnt/merged/new.txt",
+      "[[ \"\$(cat /tmp/mnt/merged/new.txt)\" == \"New\" ]]",
+
+      # Test replace
+      "[[ \"\$(cat /tmp/mnt/merged/replace.txt)\" == \"Replace\" ]]",
+      "echo 'Replaced' > /tmp/mnt/merged/replace-tmp.txt",
+      "mv /tmp/mnt/merged/replace-tmp.txt /tmp/mnt/merged/replace.txt",
+      "[[ \"\$(cat /tmp/mnt/merged/replace.txt)\" == \"Replaced\" ]]",
+
+      # Overwrite
+      "[[ \"\$(cat /tmp/mnt/merged/overwrite.txt)\" == \"Overwrite\" ]]",
+      "echo 'Overwritten' > /tmp/mnt/merged/overwrite.txt",
+      "[[ \"\$(cat /tmp/mnt/merged/overwrite.txt)\" == \"Overwritten\" ]]",
+
+      # Test append
+      "[[ \"\$(cat /tmp/mnt/merged/append.txt)\" == \"Append\" ]]",
+      "echo 'ed' >> /tmp/mnt/merged/append.txt",
+      #"cat /tmp/mnt/merged/append.txt && exit 1",
+      "[[ \"\$(cat /tmp/mnt/merged/append.txt)\" == \"Append\ned\" ]]",
+
+      "umount /tmp/mnt/merged",
+      "umount /tmp/mnt",
+      "udevadm settle"
+    );
+  '';
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/9p-ignore-noatime.patch b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/9p-ignore-noatime.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..03e47a57863
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/9p-ignore-noatime.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+commit cdc3e7eeafa9f683214d2c15d52ef384c3de6611
+Author: aszlig <aszlig@nix.build>
+Date:   Mon Mar 18 13:21:01 2019 +0100
+
+    9pfs: Ignore O_NOATIME open flag
+    
+    Since Linux 4.19, overlayfs uses the O_NOATIME flag on its lowerdir,
+    which in turn causes errors when the Nix store is mounted in the guest
+    because the file owner of the store paths typically don't match the
+    owner of the QEMU process.
+    
+    After submitting a patch to the overlayfs mailing list[1], it turns out
+    that my patch was incomplete[2] and needs a bit more rework.
+    
+    So instead of using an incomplete kernel patch in nixpkgs, which affects
+    *all* users of overlayfs, not just NixOS VM tests, I decided that for
+    now it's better to patch QEMU instead.
+    
+    The change here really only ignores the O_NOATIME flag so that the
+    behaviour is similar to what NFS does. From open(2):
+    
+      This flag may not be effective on all filesystems. One example is NFS,
+      where the server maintains the access time.
+    
+    This change is therefore only temporary until the final fix lands in the
+    stable kernel releases.
+    
+    [1]: https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-unionfs/msg06755.html
+    [2]: https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-unionfs/msg06756.html
+    
+    Signed-off-by: aszlig <aszlig@nix.build>
+
+diff --git a/hw/9pfs/9p.c b/hw/9pfs/9p.c
+index 55821343e5..0b8425fe18 100644
+--- a/hw/9pfs/9p.c
++++ b/hw/9pfs/9p.c
+@@ -127,7 +127,6 @@ static int dotl_to_open_flags(int flags)
+         { P9_DOTL_LARGEFILE, O_LARGEFILE },
+         { P9_DOTL_DIRECTORY, O_DIRECTORY },
+         { P9_DOTL_NOFOLLOW, O_NOFOLLOW },
+-        { P9_DOTL_NOATIME, O_NOATIME },
+         { P9_DOTL_SYNC, O_SYNC },
+     };
+ 
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix
index 67a863b6fb7..91a6a4e6706 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   patches = [
     ./no-etc-install.patch
     ./fix-qemu-ga.patch
+    ./9p-ignore-noatime.patch
   ] ++ optional nixosTestRunner ./force-uid0-on-9p.patch
     ++ optional pulseSupport ./fix-hda-recording.patch
     ++ optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isMusl [
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 35a03a448c4..0955226be8d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -14903,7 +14903,7 @@ in
   });
 
   # The current default kernel / kernel modules.
-  linuxPackages = linuxPackages_4_14;
+  linuxPackages = linuxPackages_4_19;
   linux = linuxPackages.kernel;
 
   # Update this when adding the newest kernel major version!