diff --git a/libcontainer/init_linux.go b/libcontainer/init_linux.go
index 58c742ac3e4..c849ec6b797 100644
--- a/libcontainer/init_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/init_linux.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
+	"syscall"
 	"unsafe"
 
 	"github.com/containerd/console"
@@ -87,9 +88,7 @@ func newContainerInit(t initType, pipe *os.File, consoleSocket *os.File, fifoFd,
 
 	// Clean the RLIMIT_NOFILE cache in go runtime.
 	// Issue: https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/issues/4195
-	if containsRlimit(config.Rlimits, unix.RLIMIT_NOFILE) {
-		system.ClearRlimitNofileCache()
-	}
+	maybeClearRlimitNofileCache(config.Rlimits)
 
 	switch t {
 	case initSetns:
@@ -268,7 +267,6 @@ func setupConsole(socket *os.File, config *initConfig, mount bool) error {
 			Height: config.ConsoleHeight,
 			Width:  config.ConsoleWidth,
 		})
-
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -525,13 +523,16 @@ func setupRoute(config *configs.Config) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func containsRlimit(limits []configs.Rlimit, resource int) bool {
+func maybeClearRlimitNofileCache(limits []configs.Rlimit) {
 	for _, rlimit := range limits {
-		if rlimit.Type == resource {
-			return true
+		if rlimit.Type == syscall.RLIMIT_NOFILE {
+			system.ClearRlimitNofileCache(&syscall.Rlimit{
+				Cur: rlimit.Soft,
+				Max: rlimit.Hard,
+			})
+			return
 		}
 	}
-	return false
 }
 
 func setupRlimits(limits []configs.Rlimit, pid int) error {
diff --git a/libcontainer/system/rlimit_linux.go b/libcontainer/system/rlimit_linux.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4595fa82aa1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libcontainer/system/rlimit_linux.go
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+//go:build go1.23
+
+package system
+
+import (
+	"syscall"
+)
+
+// ClearRlimitNofileCache clears go runtime's nofile rlimit cache. The argument
+// is process RLIMIT_NOFILE values. Relies on go.dev/cl/588076.
+func ClearRlimitNofileCache(lim *syscall.Rlimit) {
+	// Ignore the return values since we only need to clean the cache,
+	// the limit is going to be set via unix.Prlimit elsewhere.
+	_ = syscall.Setrlimit(syscall.RLIMIT_NOFILE, lim)
+}
diff --git a/libcontainer/system/rlimit_go119.go b/libcontainer/system/rlimit_linux_go122.go
similarity index 70%
rename from libcontainer/system/rlimit_go119.go
rename to libcontainer/system/rlimit_linux_go122.go
index a68c8ca6038..674e44bd8f7 100644
--- a/libcontainer/system/rlimit_go119.go
+++ b/libcontainer/system/rlimit_linux_go122.go
@@ -1,19 +1,21 @@
-//go:build go1.19
+//go:build go1.19 && !go1.23
+
+// TODO: remove this file once go 1.22 is no longer supported.
 
 package system
 
 import (
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"syscall"
-
-	_ "unsafe" // for go:linkname
+	_ "unsafe" // Needed for go:linkname to work.
 )
 
 //go:linkname syscallOrigRlimitNofile syscall.origRlimitNofile
 var syscallOrigRlimitNofile atomic.Pointer[syscall.Rlimit]
 
-// ClearRlimitNofileCache is to clear go runtime's nofile rlimit cache.
-func ClearRlimitNofileCache() {
+// ClearRlimitNofileCache clears go runtime's nofile rlimit cache.
+// The argument is process RLIMIT_NOFILE values.
+func ClearRlimitNofileCache(_ *syscall.Rlimit) {
 	// As reported in issue #4195, the new version of go runtime(since 1.19)
 	// will cache rlimit-nofile. Before executing execve, the rlimit-nofile
 	// of the process will be restored with the cache. In runc, this will
diff --git a/libcontainer/system/rlimit_stub.go b/libcontainer/system/rlimit_stub.go
index 1b37dc5720c..96200df596c 100644
--- a/libcontainer/system/rlimit_stub.go
+++ b/libcontainer/system/rlimit_stub.go
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 
 package system
 
-func ClearRlimitNofileCache() {
-}
+import "syscall"
+
+func ClearRlimitNofileCache(_ *syscall.Rlimit) {}