diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index ef00742..423e692 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- the hash and content phases open each file without blocking and check that it
+  is still a regular file, so one replaced by a FIFO or device node after it was
+  statted is warned about and skipped instead of hanging the scan (2026-10-14,
+  https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/sfdupes/issues/100)
+
 - the scan lock file is named from the database's path with symlinks resolved,
   after `scan` creates the database file if it is missing, so a scan through a
   symlink to the database fails while another scan holds the lock (2026-10-14,
diff --git a/scan.go b/scan.go
index 5514ab1..1b8eb68 100644
--- a/scan.go
+++ b/scan.go
@@ -1309,6 +1309,38 @@ func hashWorker(ctx context.Context, jobs <-chan []fileRec,
 	}
 }
 
+// errNotRegular reports a path that is no longer a regular file when it
+// is opened to be read.
+var errNotRegular = errors.New("not a regular file")
+
+// openRegularFile opens path for reading and returns it only if it is
+// still a regular file, since the path may have been replaced after it
+// was statted. O_NONBLOCK keeps the open of a FIFO or a device node
+// from waiting forever, and fstat then rejects it. Reads of a regular
+// file ignore O_NONBLOCK.
+func openRegularFile(path string) (*os.File, error) {
+	//nolint:gosec // hashing operator-supplied paths is the tool's purpose
+	f, err := os.OpenFile(path, os.O_RDONLY|syscall.O_NONBLOCK, 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	fi, err := f.Stat()
+	if err != nil {
+		_ = f.Close()
+
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	if !fi.Mode().IsRegular() {
+		_ = f.Close()
+
+		return nil, errNotRegular
+	}
+
+	return f, nil
+}
+
 // emptyHash is the lowercase-hex SHA-256 of the empty input: the head,
 // tail, and content hash of every zero-length file.
 const emptyHash = "e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb924" +
@@ -1331,8 +1363,7 @@ func hashSignature(path string, size int64) (string, string, string, error) {
 		return emptyHash, emptyHash, emptyHash, nil
 	}
 
-	//nolint:gosec // hashing operator-supplied paths is the tool's purpose
-	f, err := os.Open(path)
+	f, err := openRegularFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", "", "", err
 	}
@@ -1363,8 +1394,7 @@ func hashSignature(path string, size int64) (string, string, string, error) {
 // tail are returned empty, because the content phase keeps the ones its
 // records already hold.
 func hashContentOnly(path string, size int64) (string, string, string, error) {
-	//nolint:gosec // hashing operator-supplied paths is the tool's purpose
-	f, err := os.Open(path)
+	f, err := openRegularFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", "", "", err
 	}
diff --git a/scan_test.go b/scan_test.go
index 079f7b9..7d3c705 100644
--- a/scan_test.go
+++ b/scan_test.go
@@ -1797,6 +1797,54 @@ func TestScanHardlinkRunFailsTogether(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestHashPhaseSkipsFileReplacedByFIFO replaces a walked regular file
+// with a FIFO before the hash phase reads it. Opening a FIFO that has
+// no writer waits for one, so a blocking open would hang the phase. The
+// path must be warned about once and skipped, with no record written.
+//
+//nolint:paralleltest // captureStderr replaces the process-wide os.Stderr
+func TestHashPhaseSkipsFileReplacedByFIFO(t *testing.T) {
+	stderr := captureStderr(t)
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	p := writeFile(t, dir, "a.bin", pattern(1, 300))
+
+	walked, _ := collectWalk(t, []string{dir}, false, 1)
+
+	err := os.Remove(p)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	err = unix.Mkfifo(p, 0o600)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	s := &scanState{db: openTestDB(t), toHash: walked}
+
+	err = s.hashPhase(t.Context(), 1)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("hashPhase = %v, want nil", err)
+	}
+
+	if s.st.skipped != 1 || len(s.batch) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("skipped = %d, records = %d, want 1 skipped and none",
+			s.st.skipped, len(s.batch))
+	}
+
+	warning := "hash " + p + ": not a regular file\n"
+	if got := stderr(); strings.Count(got, warning) != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("stderr = %q, want %q once", got, warning)
+	}
+
+	// The content phase opens files the same way.
+	_, _, content, err := hashContentOnly(p, headTailMin)
+	if content != "" || !errors.Is(err, errNotRegular) {
+		t.Errorf("hashContentOnly on a FIFO = %q, %v; want no hash and %v",
+			content, err, errNotRegular)
+	}
+}
+
 // injectedWriteFailure is the message the injected database trigger
 // aborts with, so the test can recognize its own failure in the error
 // the scan reports.