diff --git a/features/_usi/file.include/etc/systemd/system/dbgimport.service b/features/_usi/file.include/etc/systemd/system/dbgimport.service
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2b84b937
--- /dev/null
+++ b/features/_usi/file.include/etc/systemd/system/dbgimport.service
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Import debug container image
+ConditionPathExists=|/opt/dbgimage/debug.tar
+ConditionFirstBoot=yes
+After=containerd.service
+Requires=containerd.service
+
+[Service]
+ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'ctr image import --base-name "$(cat /opt/dbgimage/debug.tar.name)" /opt/dbgimage/debug.tar && rm -f /opt/dbgimage/debug.tar && rm -f /opt/dbgimage/debug.tar.name && rm -f /opt/dbgimage/image'
+Type=oneshot
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/persist b/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/persist
index ad950446..1f00186c 100755
--- a/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/persist
+++ b/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/persist
@@ -94,6 +94,20 @@ if [ "$ENABLE_HUGEPAGE_SETUP" = "true" ]; then
   objcopy --add-section .cmdline=/tmp/cmdlinef --change-section-vma .cmdline=$(printf 0x%x $offs) $addon "$addon_dir/hugepages.addon.efi"
 fi
 
+# debug container
+DBG_CONTAINER_IMPORT="/sysroot/opt/dbgimage"
+DBG_CONTAINER_IMAGE_DUMP="debug.tar"
+DBG_CONTAINER_FILE="/sysroot/opt/dbgimage/image"
+
+mkdir -p "$DBG_CONTAINER_IMPORT"
+if [ -f "$DBG_CONTAINER_FILE" ]; then
+	oras backup --output "$DBG_CONTAINER_IMPORT/$DBG_CONTAINER_IMAGE_DUMP" "$(cat "$DBG_CONTAINER_FILE")"
+	cat "$DBG_CONTAINER_FILE" | cut -d: -f 1 > "$DBG_CONTAINER_IMPORT/$DBG_CONTAINER_IMAGE_DUMP.name"
+else
+	echo "no container image file provided, skipping..."
+fi
+
+
 # Network config generation
 if [[ -x /sysroot/opt/persist/network_up.sh ]]; then
 	chroot /sysroot /opt/persist/network_up.sh