diff --git a/container.go b/container.go
index a893364c5..8384a481f 100644
--- a/container.go
+++ b/container.go
@@ -290,6 +290,7 @@ func (c *container) NewTask(ctx context.Context, ioCreate cio.Creator, opts ...N
 		client: c.client,
 		io:     i,
 		id:     c.id,
+		c:      c,
 	}
 	if info.Checkpoint != nil {
 		request.Checkpoint = info.Checkpoint
@@ -407,6 +408,7 @@ func (c *container) loadTask(ctx context.Context, ioAttach cio.Attach) (Task, er
 		io:     i,
 		id:     response.Process.ID,
 		pid:    response.Process.Pid,
+		c:      c,
 	}
 	return t, nil
 }
diff --git a/container_linux_test.go b/container_linux_test.go
index d9547f2c2..25e3199c2 100644
--- a/container_linux_test.go
+++ b/container_linux_test.go
@@ -1903,3 +1903,73 @@ func TestShimOOMScore(t *testing.T) {
 
 	<-statusC
 }
+
+func TestTaskSpec(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	client, err := newClient(t, address)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer client.Close()
+
+	var (
+		image       Image
+		ctx, cancel = testContext(t)
+		id          = t.Name()
+	)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	image, err = client.GetImage(ctx, testImage)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	container, err := client.NewContainer(ctx, id, WithNewSnapshot(id, image), WithNewSpec(oci.WithImageConfig(image), longCommand))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer container.Delete(ctx, WithSnapshotCleanup)
+
+	task, err := container.NewTask(ctx, empty())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer task.Delete(ctx)
+
+	statusC, err := task.Wait(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	spec, err := task.Spec(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if spec == nil {
+		t.Fatal("spec from task is nil")
+	}
+	direct, err := newDirectIO(ctx, false)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer direct.Delete()
+
+	lt, err := container.Task(ctx, direct.IOAttach)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	spec, err = lt.Spec(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if spec == nil {
+		t.Fatal("spec from loaded task is nil")
+	}
+
+	if err := task.Kill(ctx, syscall.SIGKILL); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	<-statusC
+}
diff --git a/task.go b/task.go
index a0c1dcd5b..ae966ffc4 100644
--- a/task.go
+++ b/task.go
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/errdefs"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/images"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/mount"
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/oci"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/plugin"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/rootfs"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/runtime/linux/runctypes"
@@ -175,18 +176,26 @@ type Task interface {
 	// For the built in Linux runtime, github.com/containerd/cgroups.Metrics
 	// are returned in protobuf format
 	Metrics(context.Context) (*types.Metric, error)
+	// Spec returns the current OCI specification for the task
+	Spec(context.Context) (*oci.Spec, error)
 }
 
 var _ = (Task)(&task{})
 
 type task struct {
 	client *Client
+	c      Container
 
 	io  cio.IO
 	id  string
 	pid uint32
 }
 
+// Spec returns the current OCI specification for the task
+func (t *task) Spec(ctx context.Context) (*oci.Spec, error) {
+	return t.c.Spec(ctx)
+}
+
 // ID of the task
 func (t *task) ID() string {
 	return t.id