diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3b3c7ef64..32d159380 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ RUNTIME_BIN     := $(RUNTIME_DIR)/runsc
 RUNTIME_LOG_DIR := $(RUNTIME_DIR)/logs
 RUNTIME_LOGS    := $(RUNTIME_LOG_DIR)/runsc.log.%TEST%.%TIMESTAMP%.%COMMAND%
 
+ifeq ($(shell stat -f -c "%T" /sys/fs/cgroup 2>/dev/null),cgroup2fs)
+CGROUPV2 := true
+else
+CGROUPV2 := false
+endif
+
 $(RUNTIME_BIN): # See below.
 	@mkdir -p "$(RUNTIME_DIR)"
 ifeq (,$(STAGED_BINARIES))
@@ -204,7 +210,7 @@ tests: unit-tests nogo-tests container-tests syscall-tests
 
 integration-tests: ## Run all standard integration tests.
 integration-tests: docker-tests overlay-tests hostnet-tests swgso-tests
-integration-tests: do-tests kvm-tests containerd-test-1.3.9
+integration-tests: do-tests kvm-tests containerd-tests-min
 .PHONY: integration-tests
 
 network-tests: ## Run all networking integration tests.
@@ -320,10 +326,19 @@ else
 endif
 	@$(call sudo,test/root:root_test,--runtime=$(RUNTIME) -test.v)
 
+ifeq ($(CGROUPV2),false)
+containerd-tests-min: containerd-test-1.3.9
+else
+containerd-tests-min: containerd-test-1.4.3
+endif
+
 # The shim builds with containerd 1.3.9 and it's not backward compatible. Test
 # with 1.3.9 and newer versions.
+# When run under cgroupv2 environment, skip 1.3.9 as it does not support cgroupv2
 containerd-tests: ## Runs all supported containerd version tests.
+ifeq ($(CGROUPV2),false)
 containerd-tests: containerd-test-1.3.9
+endif
 containerd-tests: containerd-test-1.4.3
 containerd-tests: containerd-test-1.5.4
 
diff --git a/tools/install_containerd.sh b/tools/install_containerd.sh
index be54f494c..171f4def0 100755
--- a/tools/install_containerd.sh
+++ b/tools/install_containerd.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ if [[ "${CONTAINERD_MAJOR}" -eq 1 ]] && [[ "${CONTAINERD_MINOR}" -le 4 ]]; then
   export GO111MODULE=off
 fi
 
+# containerd < 1.4 doesn't work with cgroupv2 setup, so we check for that here
+if [[ "$(stat -f -c %T /sys/fs/cgroup 2>/dev/null)" -eq "cgroup2fs" && "${CONTAINERD_MAJOR}" -eq 1 && "${CONTAINERD_MINOR}" -lt 4 ]]; then
+	echo "containerd < 1.4 does not work with cgroup2"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
 # Helper for Go packages below.
 install_helper() {
   declare -r PACKAGE="${1}"