diff --git a/lib/fs.js b/lib/fs.js
index b858902cf44a..9398b71daf1b 100644
--- a/lib/fs.js
+++ b/lib/fs.js
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ const {
   getValidatedFd,
   getValidatedPath,
   handleErrorFromBinding,
+  normalizeRmPath,
   preprocessSymlinkDestination,
   Stats,
   getReadFileBuffer,
@@ -1533,7 +1534,7 @@ function rm(path, options, callback) {
   const h = vfsState.handlers;
   if (h !== null && vfsVoid(h.rm(path, options), callback)) return;
 
-  path = getValidatedPath(path);
+  path = normalizeRmPath(getValidatedPath(path));
 
   validateRmOptions(path, options, false, (err, options) => {
     if (err) {
@@ -1562,8 +1563,9 @@ function rmSync(path, options) {
     const result = h.rmSync(path, options);
     if (result !== undefined) return;
   }
+  path = normalizeRmPath(getValidatedPath(path));
   const opts = validateRmOptionsSync(path, options, false);
-  return binding.rmSync(getValidatedPath(path), opts.maxRetries, opts.recursive, opts.retryDelay);
+  return binding.rmSync(path, opts.maxRetries, opts.recursive, opts.retryDelay);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/lib/internal/fs/promises.js b/lib/internal/fs/promises.js
index d5a6b9a2c853..3ca02798245b 100644
--- a/lib/internal/fs/promises.js
+++ b/lib/internal/fs/promises.js
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ const {
   getValidatedPath,
   getReadFileBuffer,
   getReadFileBufferByteLengthName,
+  normalizeRmPath,
   preprocessSymlinkDestination,
   stringToFlags,
   stringToSymlinkType,
@@ -1548,7 +1549,7 @@ async function rm(path, options) {
     const promise = h.rm(path, options);
     if (promise !== undefined) { await promise; return; }
   }
-  path = getValidatedPath(path);
+  path = normalizeRmPath(getValidatedPath(path));
   options = await validateRmOptionsPromise(path, options, false);
   return lazyRimRaf()(path, options);
 }
diff --git a/lib/internal/fs/utils.js b/lib/internal/fs/utils.js
index 3aadc19c4732..771278906b10 100644
--- a/lib/internal/fs/utils.js
+++ b/lib/internal/fs/utils.js
@@ -940,6 +940,34 @@ const getValidatedPath = hideStackFrames((fileURLOrPath, propName = 'path') => {
   return path;
 });
 
+// fs.rm(), fs.rmSync() and fsPromises.rm() resolve a trailing `.` or `..` before
+// removing anything. Without this the two forms disagree, because rmSync()
+// dispatches to std::filesystem::remove_all() while rm() walks the tree in JS.
+// The JS walk can also invalidate its own path: it builds child paths by
+// concatenation, so removing a directory that an unresolved `..` still needs in
+// order to resolve makes every later operation fail with ENOENT, which is then
+// reported as success. Refs: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/61958
+//
+// Only a trailing dot segment is rewritten. That is where rmdir(2) rejects the
+// path outright and where the walk can outlive its own resolution; leaving every
+// other path byte for byte identical keeps this from changing unrelated
+// behaviour, such as the resource string the permission model reports.
+const normalizeRmPath = (path) => {
+  if (typeof path === 'string') {
+    const base = pathModule.basename(path);
+    return base === '.' || base === '..' ? pathModule.normalize(path) : path;
+  }
+  // Filenames are arbitrary byte sequences on POSIX. latin1 maps every byte to a
+  // distinct code point and back, so the bytes survive the round trip; utf8
+  // would rewrite invalid sequences to U+FFFD and change which path is removed.
+  const asString = Buffer.from(path).toString('latin1');
+  const base = pathModule.basename(asString);
+  if (base !== '.' && base !== '..') {
+    return path;
+  }
+  return Buffer.from(pathModule.normalize(asString), 'latin1');
+};
+
 const getValidatedFd = hideStackFrames((fd, propName = 'fd') => {
   if (ObjectIs(fd, -0)) {
     return 0;
@@ -1214,6 +1242,7 @@ module.exports = {
   getValidatedFd,
   getValidatedPath,
   handleErrorFromBinding,
+  normalizeRmPath,
   preprocessSymlinkDestination,
   realpathCacheKey: Symbol('realpathCacheKey'),
   getStatFsFromBinding,
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-rm-dot-segments.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-rm-dot-segments.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ab34b43e8fbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-rm-dot-segments.js
@@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// Regression test for https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/61958
+//
+// fs.rmSync() and fsPromises.rm() are documented as the synchronous and
+// asynchronous forms of one API, but they do not share an implementation:
+// rmSync() dispatches to binding.rmSync() (std::filesystem::remove_all) while
+// rm() and fsPromises.rm() use the JS rimraf in lib/internal/fs/rimraf.js.
+// They disagree for paths whose trailing component is `.` or `..`: the sync
+// form removes the directory contents and reports success, while the async
+// form rejects with EINVAL and removes nothing.
+//
+// Each case asserts two things. First the invariant from the bug report: for
+// identical input the two forms must succeed or fail the same way and leave
+// the filesystem in the same state. Second, that the surviving tree is the one
+// POSIX path resolution implies, so that the test still fails if both forms
+// are wrong in the same way.
+
+const common = require('../common');
+const tmpdir = require('../common/tmpdir');
+const assert = require('node:assert');
+const fs = require('node:fs');
+const fsPromises = require('node:fs/promises');
+const path = require('node:path');
+const { pathToFileURL } = require('node:url');
+
+tmpdir.refresh();
+
+const RM_OPTIONS = { recursive: true, force: true };
+
+// Path shapes whose trailing component is `.` or `..`, plus controls that
+// should be unaffected. Kept as raw strings: path.join() would normalize the
+// dot segments away and destroy the case under test.
+const DOT_SEGMENT_PATHS = [
+  'a/b/../.',      // The shape reported in the issue.
+  'a/b/..',
+  'a/b/.././b',
+  'a/.',
+  'a/b/c/.',
+  'a/b/c/../..',
+  'a/b/c/d/../../..',
+  './a',           // Control: leading `.` only.
+  'a/b',           // Control: no dot segments at all.
+];
+
+// The fixture tree, in the shape listTree() reports it.
+const FIXTURE_ENTRIES = ['a', 'a/b', 'a/b/c', 'a/b/c/d'];
+
+// What must still exist afterwards: every entry that is neither the resolved
+// target nor below it. Derived from POSIX path resolution rather than from what
+// either implementation happens to do, so that agreeing on a wrong answer still
+// fails the test.
+function expectedSurvivors(relative) {
+  const target = path.posix.normalize(relative);
+  return FIXTURE_ENTRIES.filter(
+    (entry) => entry !== target && !entry.startsWith(`${target}/`));
+}
+
+let fixtureCounter = 0;
+
+// Builds <tmpdir>/rm-fixture-N/a/b/c/d and returns the fixture root.
+function makeFixture() {
+  const root = tmpdir.resolve(`rm-fixture-${fixtureCounter++}`);
+  fs.mkdirSync(path.join(root, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'), { recursive: true });
+  return root;
+}
+
+// Sorted, root-relative listing of everything under `root`, with `/` as the
+// separator so two runs can be compared directly on any platform.
+function listTree(root) {
+  const entries = [];
+  (function walk(dir) {
+    for (const entry of fs.readdirSync(dir, { withFileTypes: true })) {
+      const absolute = path.join(dir, entry.name);
+      entries.push(path.relative(root, absolute).split(path.sep).join('/'));
+      if (entry.isDirectory()) walk(absolute);
+    }
+  })(root);
+  return entries.sort();
+}
+
+// Joins by hand rather than with path.join() to preserve dot segments.
+function targetPath(root, relative, encoding) {
+  const raw = `${root}/${relative}`;
+  if (encoding === 'string') return raw;
+  if (encoding === 'buffer') return Buffer.from(raw);
+  if (encoding === 'url') return pathToFileURL(raw);
+  assert.fail(`unknown encoding ${encoding}`);
+}
+
+// Normalizes an outcome to something comparable across the two code paths.
+function settled(fn) {
+  try {
+    fn();
+    return { outcome: 'success' };
+  } catch (err) {
+    return { outcome: 'failure', code: err.code };
+  }
+}
+
+async function settledAsync(fn) {
+  try {
+    await fn();
+    return { outcome: 'success' };
+  } catch (err) {
+    return { outcome: 'failure', code: err.code };
+  }
+}
+
+// Runs the sync and async forms against separate but identical fixtures and
+// reports what each did.
+async function compareForms(relative, encoding) {
+  const syncRoot = makeFixture();
+  const syncResult = settled(
+    () => fs.rmSync(targetPath(syncRoot, relative, encoding), RM_OPTIONS));
+  const syncTree = listTree(syncRoot);
+
+  const asyncRoot = makeFixture();
+  const asyncResult = await settledAsync(
+    () => fsPromises.rm(targetPath(asyncRoot, relative, encoding), RM_OPTIONS));
+  const asyncTree = listTree(asyncRoot);
+
+  return { syncResult, syncTree, asyncResult, asyncTree };
+}
+
+async function assertFormsAgree(relative, encoding) {
+  const label = `rm('${relative}') with a ${encoding} path`;
+  const { syncResult, syncTree, asyncResult, asyncTree } =
+    await compareForms(relative, encoding);
+
+  assert.deepStrictEqual(
+    asyncResult, syncResult,
+    `${label}: fsPromises.rm() and fs.rmSync() disagree. ` +
+    `sync=${JSON.stringify(syncResult)} async=${JSON.stringify(asyncResult)}`);
+
+  assert.deepStrictEqual(
+    asyncTree, syncTree,
+    `${label}: fsPromises.rm() and fs.rmSync() left different trees behind. ` +
+    `sync=${JSON.stringify(syncTree)} async=${JSON.stringify(asyncTree)}`);
+
+  const expected = expectedSurvivors(relative);
+
+  assert.deepStrictEqual(
+    syncResult, { outcome: 'success' },
+    `${label}: fs.rmSync() should remove the resolved target, but reported ` +
+    JSON.stringify(syncResult));
+
+  assert.deepStrictEqual(
+    syncTree, expected,
+    `${label}: fs.rmSync() left the wrong tree. ` +
+    `got=${JSON.stringify(syncTree)} want=${JSON.stringify(expected)}`);
+
+  assert.deepStrictEqual(
+    asyncTree, expected,
+    `${label}: fsPromises.rm() left the wrong tree. ` +
+    `got=${JSON.stringify(asyncTree)} want=${JSON.stringify(expected)}`);
+}
+
+// A path whose bytes are not valid UTF-8. Normalizing a Buffer path through a
+// UTF-8 round trip rewrites these bytes to U+FFFD, which would resolve to a
+// different path than the caller asked for -- silently, in an API that deletes.
+// POSIX filenames are arbitrary bytes; Windows filenames are not, so this is
+// skipped there.
+async function assertNonUtf8BufferPathsSurvive() {
+  const oddName = Buffer.from([0xff, 0xfe]);
+
+  for (const form of ['sync', 'async']) {
+    const root = makeFixture();
+    const oddDir = Buffer.concat([Buffer.from(`${root}/`), oddName]);
+    fs.mkdirSync(oddDir);
+    fs.mkdirSync(Buffer.concat([oddDir, Buffer.from('/child')]));
+
+    // Resolves to oddDir itself, so the whole directory should be removed.
+    const target = Buffer.concat([oddDir, Buffer.from('/child/..')]);
+
+    if (form === 'sync') {
+      fs.rmSync(target, RM_OPTIONS);
+    } else {
+      await fsPromises.rm(target, RM_OPTIONS);
+    }
+
+    assert.strictEqual(
+      fs.existsSync(oddDir), false,
+      `fs.rm (${form}) left a directory with non-UTF-8 bytes in its name behind; ` +
+      'the path was probably rewritten during normalization');
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(
+      listTree(root), [],
+      `fs.rm (${form}) did not remove the fixture cleanly`);
+  }
+}
+
+(async () => {
+  // String paths: the form reported in the issue.
+  for (const relative of DOT_SEGMENT_PATHS) {
+    await assertFormsAgree(relative, 'string');
+  }
+
+  // Buffer paths. fs.rm() documents `string | Buffer | URL`, so the dot
+  // segment handling must not depend on how the path was supplied. This is
+  // the case the reviewer asked about on PR #61968 and that was never
+  // answered.
+  for (const relative of DOT_SEGMENT_PATHS) {
+    await assertFormsAgree(relative, 'buffer');
+  }
+
+  // URL paths. The WHATWG URL parser resolves dot segments itself, so both
+  // forms should receive an already-normalized path here; this pins that
+  // assumption so a future change to path handling cannot silently break it.
+  for (const relative of DOT_SEGMENT_PATHS) {
+    await assertFormsAgree(relative, 'url');
+  }
+
+  if (!common.isWindows) {
+    await assertNonUtf8BufferPathsSurvive();
+  }
+})().then(common.mustCall());