diff --git a/hack/test/e2e.sh b/hack/test/e2e.sh
index 28ac28719d..3b34b5b5db 100755
--- a/hack/test/e2e.sh
+++ b/hack/test/e2e.sh
@@ -126,6 +126,9 @@ function create_cluster_capi {
     ${KUBECTL} get nodes -l node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane='' && :
     sleep 10
   done
+
+  # verify that RLIMIT_NOFILE is set to 1048576
+  ${KUBECTL} run --rm --restart=Never -it foo --image=alpine -- /bin/sh -c "ulimit -n" | grep -q 1048576
 }
 
 function run_talos_integration_test {
diff --git a/internal/app/wrapperd/main.go b/internal/app/wrapperd/main.go
index 435e256c52..8db49359ee 100644
--- a/internal/app/wrapperd/main.go
+++ b/internal/app/wrapperd/main.go
@@ -50,13 +50,6 @@ func Main() {
 		}
 	}
 
-	// set the rlimit for the process before we drop privileges
-	// TODO: frezbo: see if we need to drop Rlimit from the boot sequence, the only downside maybe that some very early process might
-	// not have the higher rlimit set, but it seems we always use the wrapper to start processes.
-	if err := unix.Setrlimit(unix.RLIMIT_NOFILE, &unix.Rlimit{Max: 1048576, Cur: 1048576}); err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("failed to set rlimit: %v", err)
-	}
-
 	// load the cgroup and put the process into the cgroup
 	if cgroupPath != "" {
 		if cgroups.Mode() == cgroups.Unified {