diff --git a/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zfs_list/zfs_list.kshlib b/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zfs_list/zfs_list.kshlib
index 03c9d1f07a..889ae46fb9 100644
--- a/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zfs_list/zfs_list.kshlib
+++ b/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zfs_list/zfs_list.kshlib
@@ -116,3 +116,22 @@ function verify_reverse_sort { # command list name
 			"unexpected number of filesystems found in list output!"
 	fi
 }
+
+function is_fs_type_zfs {
+
+    typeset dirname=$1
+    typeset fs="$(df $dirname | tail -1 | awk '{print $NF}')"
+
+    if is_freebsd; then
+        fs_type=$(mount | awk -v fs=$fs '{if ($3 == fs) print $4}' \
+            | sed -n 's/(\(.*\),/\1/p')
+    elif is_linux; then
+        fs_type=$(mount | awk -v fs=$fs '{if ($3 == fs) print $5}')
+    fi
+
+    if [[ $fs_type == "zfs" ]]; then
+        true
+    else
+        false
+    fi
+}
diff --git a/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zfs_list/zfs_list_004_neg.ksh b/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zfs_list/zfs_list_004_neg.ksh
index 5d1114dacf..727c0aef08 100755
--- a/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zfs_list/zfs_list_004_neg.ksh
+++ b/tests/zfs-tests/tests/functional/cli_user/zfs_list/zfs_list_004_neg.ksh
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2013, 2016 by Delphix. All rights reserved.
 #
 
-. $STF_SUITE/include/libtest.shlib
+. $STF_SUITE/tests/functional/cli_user/zfs_list/zfs_list.kshlib
 
 #
 # DESCRIPTION:
@@ -55,8 +55,12 @@ paths="$TESTPOOL/NONEXISTFS $TESTPOOL/$TESTFS/NONEXISTFS \
 cd /tmp
 
 for fs in $paths ; do
-	log_mustnot zfs list $fs
-	log_mustnot zfs list -r $fs
+    # In cases when ZFS is on root, /tmp will belong to ZFS and hence must be
+    # skipped
+    if ! is_fs_type_zfs $fs; then
+        log_mustnot zfs list $fs
+        log_mustnot zfs list -r $fs
+    fi
 done
 
 log_pass "'zfs list [-r]' fails while the given dataset/path does not exist " \