diff --git a/libcontainer/container_linux.go b/libcontainer/container_linux.go
index 7566afd25b3..3af5da7dcd7 100644
--- a/libcontainer/container_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/container_linux.go
@@ -306,6 +306,9 @@ func (c *Container) start(process *Process) (retErr error) {
 		return errors.New("can't start container with SkipDevices set")
 	}
 	if process.Init {
+		if c.initProcessStartTime != 0 {
+			return errors.New("container already has init process")
+		}
 		if err := c.createExecFifo(); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
diff --git a/libcontainer/integration/execin_test.go b/libcontainer/integration/execin_test.go
index c5c324130c6..b9683b76442 100644
--- a/libcontainer/integration/execin_test.go
+++ b/libcontainer/integration/execin_test.go
@@ -115,7 +115,6 @@ func testExecInRlimit(t *testing.T, userns bool) {
 			// increase process rlimit higher than container rlimit to test per-process limit
 			{Type: unix.RLIMIT_NOFILE, Hard: 1026, Soft: 1026},
 		},
-		Init: true,
 	}
 	err = container.Run(ps)
 	ok(t, err)
@@ -359,7 +358,6 @@ func TestExecInEnvironment(t *testing.T) {
 		Stdin:  buffers.Stdin,
 		Stdout: buffers.Stdout,
 		Stderr: buffers.Stderr,
-		Init:   true,
 	}
 	err = container.Run(process2)
 	ok(t, err)