diff --git a/doc/api/packages.md b/doc/api/packages.md
index 658e74af15551c..2055f54e387a1f 100644
--- a/doc/api/packages.md
+++ b/doc/api/packages.md
@@ -613,7 +613,8 @@ Then any module _in that package_ can reference an export in the package itself:
 import { something } from 'a-package'; // Imports "something" from ./main.mjs.
 ```
 
-Self-referencing is available only if `package.json` has [`"exports"`][], and
+Self-referencing is available only if `package.json` has a [`"name"`][] that
+does not contain the character `:`, and a [`"exports"`][] field, and
 will allow importing only what that [`"exports"`][] (in the `package.json`)
 allows. So the code below, given the previous package, will generate a runtime
 error:
diff --git a/lib/internal/modules/cjs/loader.js b/lib/internal/modules/cjs/loader.js
index e7298a2acd782e..250e88f544fcfe 100644
--- a/lib/internal/modules/cjs/loader.js
+++ b/lib/internal/modules/cjs/loader.js
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ const {
   StringPrototypeCharCodeAt,
   StringPrototypeEndsWith,
   StringPrototypeLastIndexOf,
+  StringPrototypeIncludes,
   StringPrototypeIndexOf,
   StringPrototypeMatch,
   StringPrototypeSlice,
@@ -444,6 +445,11 @@ function trySelf(parentPath, request) {
     return false;
   }
 
+  if (StringPrototypeIncludes(pkg.name, ':')) {
+    throw new ERR_INVALID_MODULE_SPECIFIER(
+      request, 'is not a valid package name', parentPath);
+  }
+
   try {
     return finalizeEsmResolution(packageExportsResolve(
       pathToFileURL(pkgPath + '/package.json'), expansion, pkg,
diff --git a/test/fixtures/self_ref_module_with_colon/bin.js b/test/fixtures/self_ref_module_with_colon/bin.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..80cbce6025ba3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/self_ref_module_with_colon/bin.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
+'use strict';
+
+try {
+  console.log(require('file:package'));
+} catch (e) {
+  console.log(e);
+}
+import('file:package').then(console.log, console.log);
+import('file%3Apackage').then(console.log, console.log);
diff --git a/test/fixtures/self_ref_module_with_colon/index.js b/test/fixtures/self_ref_module_with_colon/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..7faa73693b54aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/self_ref_module_with_colon/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+'use strict'
+
+module.exports = 'Self resolution working';
+
diff --git a/test/fixtures/self_ref_module_with_colon/package.json b/test/fixtures/self_ref_module_with_colon/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..09d6bb8b347d89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/self_ref_module_with_colon/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+  "name": "file:package",
+  "exports": "./index.js"
+}
diff --git a/test/message/test-self-referential-package.js b/test/message/test-self-referential-package.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..8a730b19492b80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/message/test-self-referential-package.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+'use strict';
+
+require('../common');
+const { spawn } = require('child_process');
+
+const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
+const selfRefModule = fixtures.path('self_ref_module_with_colon');
+
+spawn(process.argv0, [`${selfRefModule}/bin.js`], {
+  stdio: 'inherit'
+});
diff --git a/test/message/test-self-referential-package.out b/test/message/test-self-referential-package.out
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..b8a9dde4eeb6b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/message/test-self-referential-package.out
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+TypeError [ERR_INVALID_MODULE_SPECIFIER]: Invalid module "file:package" is not a valid package name imported from *
+    at new NodeError (node:internal/errors:*)
+    at trySelf (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:*)
+    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:*)
+    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:*)
+    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:*)
+    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:*)
+    at Object.<anonymous> (*)
+    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:*)
+    at Object.Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:*)
+    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:*) {
+  code: 'ERR_INVALID_MODULE_SPECIFIER'
+}
+Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find module '/package' imported from *
+    at new NodeError (node:internal/errors:*)
+    at finalizeResolution (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:*)
+    at moduleResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:*)
+    at Loader.defaultResolve [as _resolve] (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:*)
+    at Loader.resolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:*)
+    at Loader.getModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:*)
+    at Loader.import (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:*)
+    at importModuleDynamically (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:*)
+    at importModuleDynamicallyWrapper (node:internal/vm/module:*)
+    at importModuleDynamically (node:vm:*) {
+  code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND'
+}
+TypeError [ERR_INVALID_MODULE_SPECIFIER]: Invalid module "file%%3Apackage" is not a valid package name imported from *
+    at new NodeError (node:internal/errors:*)
+    at parsePackageName (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:*)
+    at packageResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:*)
+    at moduleResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:*)
+    at Loader.defaultResolve [as _resolve] (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:*)
+    at Loader.resolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:*)
+    at Loader.getModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:*)
+    at Loader.import (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:*)
+    at importModuleDynamically (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:*)
+    at importModuleDynamicallyWrapper (node:internal/vm/module:*) {
+  code: 'ERR_INVALID_MODULE_SPECIFIER'
+}