diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests_eessi_module.yml b/.github/workflows/tests_eessi_module.yml
index 39f6b228..f8c69cfd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests_eessi_module.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests_eessi_module.yml
@@ -316,6 +316,49 @@ jobs:
           GREP_PATTERN="Lmod is automatically replacing \"EESSI/${{matrix.EESSI_VERSION}}\" with \"${LOCAL_STACK_NAME}/${LOCAL_STACK_VERSION}\"."
           module load "${LOCAL_STACK_NAME}/${LOCAL_STACK_VERSION}" |& grep "${GREP_PATTERN}"
 
+  check_riscv_cpu_override:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        EESSI_VERSION:
+          - '2025.06'
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out software-layer repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@b4ffde65f46336ab88eb53be808477a3936bae11 # v4.1.1
+
+      - name: Mount EESSI CernVM-FS repository
+        uses: cvmfs-contrib/github-action-cvmfs@55899ca74cf78ab874bdf47f5a804e47c198743c # v4.0
+        with:
+          cvmfs_config_package: https://github.com/EESSI/filesystem-layer/releases/download/latest/cvmfs-config-eessi_latest_all.deb
+          cvmfs_http_proxy: DIRECT
+          cvmfs_repositories: software.eessi.io,dev.eessi.io
+
+      - name: Test if we can override the CPU family to check risc-v modules on an x86 system
+        run: |
+          # Initialise Lmod
+          . /cvmfs/software.eessi.io/versions/${{matrix.EESSI_VERSION}}/compat/linux/$(uname -m)/usr/share/Lmod/init/bash
+          
+          export MODULEPATH=init/modules
+
+          # Set the overrides we want to test
+          export EESSI_CPU_FAMILY_OVERRIDE=x86_64  # Running on an x86_64 system, so we need x86_64 compat layer
+          export EESSI_SOFTWARE_SUBDIR_OVERRIDE=riscv64/generic  # Get modules for riscv64/generic
+          export EESSI_VERSION_OVERRIDE=2025.06-001  # Override EESSI version, as versioning for riscv repo is different
+          
+          module load EESSI/${{matrix.EESSI_VERSION}}
+          
+          # Make sure the compat layer works with a simple ls
+          [ -n "${EPREFIX:-}" ] && "$EPREFIX/bin/ls" || { echo "EPREFIX is not defined" >&2; exit 1; }          
+          
+          # Check that we have a riscv MODULEPATH
+          if [[ "$MODULEPATH" == *"riscv"* ]]; then
+              echo "MODULEPATH contains riscv prefix ($MODULEPATH)"
+          else
+              exit 1
+          fi
+
   check_PS1_update_eessi_module:
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     strategy:
diff --git a/init/modules/EESSI/2023.06.lua b/init/modules/EESSI/2023.06.lua
index fca0d69c..51bf33ef 100644
--- a/init/modules/EESSI/2023.06.lua
+++ b/init/modules/EESSI/2023.06.lua
@@ -19,7 +19,11 @@ local eessi_init_prefix = pathJoin(eessi_prefix, "init")
 local eessi_software_layer_version_suffix = ""
 local eessi_os_type = "linux"
 -- for RISC-V clients we need to do some overrides, as things are stored in different CVMFS repositories
-if (subprocess("uname -m"):gsub("\n$","") == "riscv64") then
+local eessi_software_subdir_override = os.getenv("EESSI_SOFTWARE_SUBDIR_OVERRIDE")
+if (
+    subprocess("uname -m"):gsub("\n$","") == "riscv64"
+    or (eessi_software_subdir_override and string.find(eessi_software_subdir_override, "riscv64"))
+    ) then
     if (eessi_version == "2023.06" or eessi_version == "20240402") then
         eessi_version_override = os.getenv("EESSI_VERSION_OVERRIDE") or ""
         index_suffix = string.find(eessi_version_override, '-')
@@ -114,7 +118,12 @@ local archdetect = archdetect_cpu()
 -- archdetect_accel() attempts to identify an accelerator, e.g., accel/nvidia/cc80
 local archdetect_accel = archdetect_accel()
 -- eessi_cpu_family is derived from  the archdetect match, e.g., x86_64
-local eessi_cpu_family = archdetect:match("([^/]+)")
+local eessi_cpu_family
+if os.getenv("EESSI_CPU_FAMILY_OVERRIDE") then
+    eessi_cpu_family = os.getenv("EESSI_CPU_FAMILY_OVERRIDE")
+else
+    eessi_cpu_family = archdetect:match("([^/]+)")
+end
 local eessi_software_subdir = archdetect
 -- eessi_eprefix is the base location of the compat layer, e.g., /cvmfs/software.eessi.io/versions/<EESSI_VERSION>/compat/linux/x86_64
 local eessi_eprefix = pathJoin(eessi_compat_prefix, eessi_os_type, eessi_cpu_family)