diff --git a/cmd/dockerd/daemon_unix.go b/cmd/dockerd/daemon_unix.go
index 9869043a7f..75583e6058 100644
--- a/cmd/dockerd/daemon_unix.go
+++ b/cmd/dockerd/daemon_unix.go
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ func getDaemonConfDir(_ string) (string, error) {
 
 func (cli *DaemonCli) getPlatformContainerdDaemonOpts() ([]supervisor.DaemonOpt, error) {
 	opts := []supervisor.DaemonOpt{
+		// TODO(thaJeztah) change this to use /proc/self/oom_score_adj instead,
+		// which would allow us to set the correct score even if dockerd's score
+		// was set through other means (such as systemd or "manually").
 		supervisor.WithOOMScore(cli.Config.OOMScoreAdjust),
 	}
 
diff --git a/libcontainerd/supervisor/remote_daemon.go b/libcontainerd/supervisor/remote_daemon.go
index fd46e9ffbe..2df2794b55 100644
--- a/libcontainerd/supervisor/remote_daemon.go
+++ b/libcontainerd/supervisor/remote_daemon.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/services/server/config"
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/sys"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/pkg/system"
 	"github.com/pelletier/go-toml"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
@@ -40,6 +41,9 @@ type remote struct {
 	daemonStopCh  chan struct{}
 
 	stateDir string
+
+	// oomScore adjusts the OOM score for the containerd process.
+	oomScore int
 }
 
 // Daemon represents a running containerd daemon
@@ -203,6 +207,10 @@ func (r *remote) startContainerd() error {
 
 	r.daemonPid = cmd.Process.Pid
 
+	if err := r.adjustOOMScore(); err != nil {
+		r.logger.WithError(err).Warn("failed to adjust OOM score")
+	}
+
 	err = os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(r.stateDir, pidFile), []byte(fmt.Sprintf("%d", r.daemonPid)), 0660)
 	if err != nil {
 		system.KillProcess(r.daemonPid)
@@ -214,6 +222,18 @@ func (r *remote) startContainerd() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (r *remote) adjustOOMScore() error {
+	if r.oomScore == 0 || r.daemonPid <= 1 {
+		// no score configured, or daemonPid contains an invalid PID (we don't
+		// expect containerd to be running as PID 1 :)).
+		return nil
+	}
+	if err := sys.SetOOMScore(r.daemonPid, r.oomScore); err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to adjust OOM score for containerd process")
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (r *remote) monitorDaemon(ctx context.Context) {
 	var (
 		transientFailureCount = 0
diff --git a/libcontainerd/supervisor/remote_daemon_options_linux.go b/libcontainerd/supervisor/remote_daemon_options_linux.go
index 14511dbf93..9be34177ed 100644
--- a/libcontainerd/supervisor/remote_daemon_options_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainerd/supervisor/remote_daemon_options_linux.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package supervisor // import "github.com/docker/docker/libcontainerd/supervisor"
 // WithOOMScore defines the oom_score_adj to set for the containerd process.
 func WithOOMScore(score int) DaemonOpt {
 	return func(r *remote) error {
-		r.OOMScore = score
+		r.oomScore = score
 		return nil
 	}
 }