diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/containerfile/README.rst b/diskimage_builder/elements/containerfile/README.rst
index 093eee5a3..6f7b950a2 100644
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/containerfile/README.rst
+++ b/diskimage_builder/elements/containerfile/README.rst
@@ -22,3 +22,5 @@ Set ``DIB_CONTAINERFILE_RUNTIME_ROOT`` to ``1`` to run the runtime
 
 Set ``DIB_CONTAINERFILE_NETWORK_DRIVER`` to a network driver of your choice
 (e.g. host) to use it instead of the default bridge during build.
+
+Set ``DIB_CONTAINERFILE_BUILDOPTS`` to pass any other options to build command, e.g. ``--from docker.io/library/ubuntu:jammy --build-arg=HTTP_PROXY=http://10.20.30.2:1234``
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/containerfile/root.d/08-containerfile b/diskimage_builder/elements/containerfile/root.d/08-containerfile
index d8ac82876..5f40b9e4c 100755
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/containerfile/root.d/08-containerfile
+++ b/diskimage_builder/elements/containerfile/root.d/08-containerfile
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ function podman_cleanup() {
 
 trap "podman_cleanup" EXIT
 
-${_sudo} ${DIB_CONTAINERFILE_RUNTIME} build ${DIB_CONTAINERFILE_RUNTIME_NETWORK} -t ${_podman_build_image} -f $DIB_CONTAINERFILE_DOCKERFILE $DIB_CONTAINER_CONTEXT
+${_sudo} ${DIB_CONTAINERFILE_RUNTIME} build ${DIB_CONTAINERFILE_RUNTIME_NETWORK} -t ${_podman_build_image} -f $DIB_CONTAINERFILE_DOCKERFILE ${DIB_CONTAINERFILE_BUILDOPTS:-} $DIB_CONTAINER_CONTEXT
 ${_sudo} ${DIB_CONTAINERFILE_RUNTIME} run ${DIB_CONTAINERFILE_RUNTIME_NETWORK} --name ${_podman_export_container} -d ${_podman_build_image} /bin/sh
 # NOTE(ianw) 2021-11-10 the tar must always be sudo to write out the chroot files
 # as other uids