diff --git a/lib/internal/modules/esm/translators.js b/lib/internal/modules/esm/translators.js
index c0125cd84c37c0..80228e895fafcf 100644
--- a/lib/internal/modules/esm/translators.js
+++ b/lib/internal/modules/esm/translators.js
@@ -279,7 +279,8 @@ translators.set('commonjs', async function commonjsStrategy(url, source,
   // obtained by calling the monkey-patchable CJS loader.
   const cjsLoader = source == null ? (module, source, url, filename) => {
     try {
-      module.load(filename);
+      assert(module === CJSModule._cache[filename]);
+      CJSModule._load(filename);
     } catch (err) {
       enrichCJSError(err, source, url);
       throw err;
diff --git a/test/es-module/test-esm-recursive-cjs-dependencies.mjs b/test/es-module/test-esm-recursive-cjs-dependencies.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..d75f0fae95df6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/es-module/test-esm-recursive-cjs-dependencies.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+import '../common/index.mjs';
+import { strictEqual } from 'node:assert';
+
+import '../fixtures/recursive-a.cjs';
+
+strictEqual(global.counter, 1);
+delete global.counter;
diff --git a/test/fixtures/recursive-a.cjs b/test/fixtures/recursive-a.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a60c0a635ddf6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/recursive-a.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+'use strict';
+
+global.counter ??= 0;
+global.counter++;
+
+require('./recursive-b.cjs');
diff --git a/test/fixtures/recursive-b.cjs b/test/fixtures/recursive-b.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e9f0b5d0701b69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/recursive-b.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+'use strict';
+
+require('./recursive-a.cjs');