diff --git a/images/haproxy/haproxy.cfg b/images/haproxy/haproxy.cfg
index 2b8ac042ba..aa9796ae3c 100755
--- a/images/haproxy/haproxy.cfg
+++ b/images/haproxy/haproxy.cfg
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
 
 # minimal config file to avoid haproxy exiting due to invalid / missing config
 # kind will rewrite this config at runtime
+global
+    # limit memory usage to approximately 18 MB
+    maxconn 100000
+
 frontend controlPlane
     bind 0.0.0.0:6443
     mode tcp
diff --git a/pkg/cluster/internal/loadbalancer/config.go b/pkg/cluster/internal/loadbalancer/config.go
index 71e17388b3..185565f66d 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/internal/loadbalancer/config.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/internal/loadbalancer/config.go
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ global
   log /dev/log local0
   log /dev/log local1 notice
   daemon
+  # limit memory usage to approximately 18 MB
+  maxconn 100000
 
 resolvers docker
   nameserver dns 127.0.0.11:53