diff --git a/lib/internal/errors.js b/lib/internal/errors.js
index ae2028f8a2955e..ac42b07f095b44 100644
--- a/lib/internal/errors.js
+++ b/lib/internal/errors.js
@@ -1356,7 +1356,7 @@ E('ERR_WORKER_PATH',
 E('ERR_WORKER_UNSERIALIZABLE_ERROR',
   'Serializing an uncaught exception failed', Error);
 E('ERR_WORKER_UNSUPPORTED_EXTENSION',
-  'The worker script extension must be ".js" or ".mjs". Received "%s"',
+  'The worker script extension must be ".js", ".mjs", or ".cjs". Received "%s"',
   TypeError);
 E('ERR_WORKER_UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION',
   '%s is not supported in workers', TypeError);
diff --git a/lib/internal/worker.js b/lib/internal/worker.js
index d7adfda5fa3927..acf325eff61197 100644
--- a/lib/internal/worker.js
+++ b/lib/internal/worker.js
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class Worker extends EventEmitter {
       filename = path.resolve(filename);
 
       const ext = path.extname(filename);
-      if (ext !== '.js' && ext !== '.mjs') {
+      if (!/^\.[cm]?js$/.test(ext)) {
         throw new ERR_WORKER_UNSUPPORTED_EXTENSION(ext);
       }
     }
diff --git a/test/fixtures/worker-data.cjs b/test/fixtures/worker-data.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..731b77eb367863
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/worker-data.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+const { workerData, parentPort } = require('worker_threads');
+
+parentPort.postMessage(workerData);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-worker-cjs-workerdata.js b/test/parallel/test-worker-cjs-workerdata.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..949011fee8173e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-worker-cjs-workerdata.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const { Worker } = require('worker_threads');
+
+const workerData = 'Hello from main thread';
+
+const worker = new Worker(fixtures.path('worker-data.cjs'), {
+  workerData
+});
+
+worker.on('message', common.mustCall((message) => {
+  assert.strictEqual(message, workerData);
+}));