diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/bear/0001-exclude-tests-from-all.patch b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/bear/0001-exclude-tests-from-all.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..041ab7246eed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/bear/0001-exclude-tests-from-all.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
+index f1ecfe0..9056f9d 100644
+--- a/CMakeLists.txt
++++ b/CMakeLists.txt
+@@ -83,8 +83,9 @@ ExternalProject_Add(BearSource
+             -DCMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS:STRING=${CMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS}
+             -DROOT_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}
+             ${CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS_EXTRA}
+-        TEST_BEFORE_INSTALL
++        TEST_EXCLUDE_FROM_MAIN
+             1
++        STEP_TARGETS test
+         TEST_COMMAND
+             ctest # or `ctest -T memcheck`
+         )
+@@ -100,7 +101,8 @@ if (ENABLE_FUNC_TESTS)
+                 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR:PATH=${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}
+                 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR:PATH=${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}
+                 -DSTAGED_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${STAGED_INSTALL_PREFIX}
+-            TEST_BEFORE_INSTALL
++            TEST_EXCLUDE_FROM_MAIN
++            STEP_TARGETS test
+                 1
+             INSTALL_COMMAND
+                 ""
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/bear/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/bear/default.nix
index 6595c143084f..01d7560b9302 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/bear/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/bear/default.nix
@@ -20,14 +20,14 @@
   coreutils,
 }:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   pname = "bear";
   version = "3.1.5";
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "rizsotto";
-    repo = pname;
-    rev = version;
+    repo = "bear";
+    rev = finalAttrs.version;
     hash = "sha256-pwdjytP+kmTwozRl1Gd0jUqRs3wfvcYPqiQvVwa6s9c=";
   };
 
@@ -35,10 +35,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     cmake
     ninja
     pkg-config
-
-    # Used for functional tests, which run during buildPhase.
-    lit
-    python3
   ];
 
   buildInputs = [
@@ -46,7 +42,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     protobuf
     openssl
     nlohmann_json
-    gtest
     spdlog
     c-ares
     zlib
@@ -54,15 +49,52 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     re2
   ];
 
+  patches = [
+    # This patch is necessary to run tests in a separate phase. By default
+    # test targets are run with ALL, which is not what we want. This patch creates
+    # separate 'test' step targets for each cmake ExternalProject:
+    # - BearTest-test (functional lit tests)
+    # - BearSource-test (unit tests via gtest)
+    ./0001-exclude-tests-from-all.patch
+  ];
+
+  nativeCheckInputs = [
+    lit
+    python3
+  ];
+
+  checkInputs = [
+    gtest
+  ];
+
   cmakeFlags = [
     # Build system and generated files concatenate install prefix and
     # CMAKE_INSTALL_{BIN,LIB}DIR, which breaks if these are absolute paths.
     "-DCMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR=bin"
     "-DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib"
-    (lib.cmakeBool "ENABLE_UNIT_TESTS" false)
-    (lib.cmakeBool "ENABLE_FUNC_TESTS" false)
+    (lib.cmakeBool "ENABLE_UNIT_TESTS" finalAttrs.doCheck)
+    (lib.cmakeBool "ENABLE_FUNC_TESTS" finalAttrs.doCheck)
   ];
 
+  checkTarget = lib.concatStringsSep " " [
+    "BearTest-test"
+    "BearSource-test"
+  ];
+
+  doCheck = true;
+
+  env = {
+    # Disable failing tests. The cause is not immediately clear.
+    LIT_FILTER_OUT = lib.concatStringsSep "|" [
+      "cases/compilation/output/config/filter_compilers.sh"
+      "cases/intercept/preload/posix/execvpe/success_to_resolve.c"
+      "cases/intercept/preload/posix/popen/success.c"
+      "cases/intercept/preload/posix/posix_spawnp/success_to_resolve.c"
+      "cases/intercept/preload/posix/system/success.c"
+      "cases/intercept/preload/shell_commands_intercepted_without_shebang.sh"
+    ];
+  };
+
   postPatch = ''
     patchShebangs test/bin
 
@@ -87,4 +119,4 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     platforms = platforms.unix;
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ DieracDelta ];
   };
-}
+})