diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e-test.yml b/.github/workflows/e2e-test.yml
index f176953048..d3e4230636 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/e2e-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e-test.yml
@@ -129,188 +129,6 @@ jobs:
           OPENSHELL_MCP_CONFORMANCE_CLIENT_IMAGE: ${{ format('openshell-mcp-conformance-client:{0}', inputs.image-tag) }}
         run: ${{ matrix.cmd }}
 
-  e2e-podman-rootless:
-    name: E2E (rust-podman-${{ matrix.suite }}, ${{ matrix.runner }})
-    # Run directly on the Ubuntu host so the test observes the host's AppArmor
-    # and unprivileged-user-namespace policy. A privileged job container masks
-    # the restrictions that production rootless Podman installations enforce.
-    # Ubuntu 26.04 provides the supported Podman 5.x and pasta combination.
-    # Re-add older/slirp4netns environments when direct callbacks through a
-    # rootless-network namespace relay are supported.
-    runs-on: ${{ matrix.runner }}
-    timeout-minutes: 30
-    strategy:
-      fail-fast: false
-      matrix:
-        include:
-          # Keep package versions explicit so hosted-runner tool overrides
-          # cannot silently change the supported test environment.
-          - suite: rootless
-            runner: ubuntu-26.04
-            podman_major: "5"
-            podman_package_version: "5.7.0+ds2-3build1"
-            conmon_package_version: "2.1.13+ds1-2"
-            cmd: "mise run --no-deps --skip-deps e2e:podman:rootless"
-          - suite: external-driver
-            runner: ubuntu-26.04
-            podman_major: "5"
-            podman_package_version: "5.7.0+ds2-3build1"
-            conmon_package_version: "2.1.13+ds1-2"
-            cmd: "env -u OPENSHELL_GATEWAY_BIN mise run --no-deps --skip-deps e2e:podman:external-driver"
-          - suite: provider-refresh-keycloak
-            runner: ubuntu-26.04
-            podman_major: "5"
-            podman_package_version: "5.7.0+ds2-3build1"
-            conmon_package_version: "2.1.13+ds1-2"
-            cmd: "mise run --no-deps --skip-deps e2e:provider-refresh-keycloak"
-    env:
-      IMAGE_TAG: ${{ inputs.image-tag }}
-      MISE_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-      OPENSHELL_REGISTRY: ghcr.io/nvidia/openshell
-      OPENSHELL_REGISTRY_HOST: ghcr.io
-      OPENSHELL_REGISTRY_NAMESPACE: nvidia/openshell
-      OPENSHELL_REGISTRY_USERNAME: ${{ github.actor }}
-      OPENSHELL_REGISTRY_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-      OPENSHELL_SUPERVISOR_IMAGE: ${{ format('ghcr.io/nvidia/openshell/supervisor:{0}', inputs.image-tag) }}
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
-        with:
-          ref: ${{ inputs['checkout-ref'] || github.sha }}
-          persist-credentials: false
-
-      - name: Use prebuilt OpenShell CLI
-        if: inputs.cli-artifact-prefix != ''
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-e2e-cli
-        with:
-          artifact-prefix: ${{ inputs.cli-artifact-prefix }}
-
-      - name: Use prebuilt OpenShell gateway
-        if: inputs.gateway-artifact-prefix != ''
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-e2e-gateway
-        with:
-          artifact-prefix: ${{ inputs.gateway-artifact-prefix }}
-
-      - name: Install mise
-        run: |
-          curl https://mise.run | MISE_VERSION=v2026.4.25 sh
-          echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
-          echo "$HOME/.local/share/mise/shims" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
-
-      - name: Install tools
-        run: mise install --locked
-
-      - name: Install Podman and build dependencies
-        run: |
-          sudo apt-get update
-          sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-            apparmor \
-            build-essential \
-            clang \
-            fuse-overlayfs \
-            libssl-dev \
-            libz3-dev \
-            openssh-client \
-            passt \
-            pkg-config \
-            "conmon=${{ matrix.conmon_package_version }}" \
-            "podman=${{ matrix.podman_package_version }}" \
-            uidmap
-          # Hosted runners can place newer Podman and conmon binaries under
-          # /usr/local ahead of Ubuntu's packages. Select the distro CLI and
-          # use Podman's supported final config override for its conmon path.
-          podman_config="${RUNNER_TEMP}/openshell-containers.conf"
-          printf '%s\n' \
-            '[engine]' \
-            'conmon_path = ["/usr/bin/conmon"]' \
-            > "${podman_config}"
-          echo "/usr/bin" >> "${GITHUB_PATH}"
-          echo "CONTAINERS_CONF_OVERRIDE=${podman_config}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
-
-      - name: Allow pasta to receive Podman stop signals
-        # Ubuntu's packaged pasta profile currently blocks this signal, forcing
-        # Podman to wait for its SIGKILL fallback. Keep this narrow allowance
-        # until the distribution package includes the upstream profile fix.
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          profile=/etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.pasta
-          rule='  signal (receive) peer=podman,'
-          if ! sudo grep -Fqx "${rule}" "${profile}"; then
-            sudo sed -i '\|^  include <abstractions/pasta>$|a\  signal (receive) peer=podman,' "${profile}"
-          fi
-          sudo grep -Fqx "${rule}" "${profile}"
-          sudo apparmor_parser --replace "${profile}"
-
-      - name: Configure rootless Podman
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          if ! grep -q "^${USER}:" /etc/subuid; then
-            sudo usermod --add-subuids 100000-165535 "$USER"
-          fi
-          if ! grep -q "^${USER}:" /etc/subgid; then
-            sudo usermod --add-subgids 100000-165535 "$USER"
-          fi
-          runtime_dir="/run/user/$(id -u)"
-          sudo install -d -m 0700 -o "$(id -u)" -g "$(id -g)" "$runtime_dir"
-          echo "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=$runtime_dir" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
-
-      - name: Verify rootless Podman environment
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          podman_version="$(podman version --format '{{.Client.Version}}')"
-          case "$podman_version" in
-            "${{ matrix.podman_major }}".*) ;;
-            *) echo "ERROR: expected Podman ${{ matrix.podman_major }}.x, found $podman_version" >&2; exit 1 ;;
-          esac
-          test "$(dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}' podman)" = "${{ matrix.podman_package_version }}"
-          test "$(dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}' conmon)" = "${{ matrix.conmon_package_version }}"
-          test "$(command -v podman)" = "/usr/bin/podman"
-          test "$(podman info --format '{{.Host.Conmon.Path}}')" = "/usr/bin/conmon"
-          test "$(podman info --format '{{.Host.Security.Rootless}}')" = "true"
-          test "$(podman info --format '{{.Host.RootlessNetworkCmd}}')" = "pasta"
-          test "$(sudo sysctl -n kernel.apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns)" = "1"
-          echo "=== host ==="
-          uname -a
-          echo "=== AppArmor ==="
-          cat /proc/self/attr/current
-          sudo aa-status || true
-          echo "=== Podman ==="
-          podman version
-          podman info --debug
-
-      - name: Probe rootless capability bounding set
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          probe="$RUNNER_TEMP/openshell-capbset-probe"
-          cc -static -O2 -Wall -Wextra -Werror \
-            e2e/support/capbset-probe.c \
-            -o "$probe"
-          podman run --rm \
-            --cap-add=SETPCAP \
-            --volume "$probe:/openshell-capbset-probe:ro" \
-            docker.io/library/alpine:3.22 \
-            /openshell-capbset-probe
-
-      - name: Log in to GHCR with Podman
-        run: echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" | podman login ghcr.io -u "${{ github.actor }}" --password-stdin
-
-      - name: Run Podman E2E
-        run: ${{ matrix.cmd }}
-
-      - name: Print AppArmor denials
-        if: always()
-        run: sudo dmesg | grep -E 'apparmor=.*DENIED|profile="unprivileged_userns"' | tail -100 || true
-
-      - name: Fail on pasta SIGTERM AppArmor denial
-        if: always()
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          denials="$(sudo dmesg | grep -E 'profile="pasta".*requested_mask="receive".*signal=term.*peer="podman"' || true)"
-          if [ -n "${denials}" ]; then
-            echo "::error::pasta denied Podman's SIGTERM; Podman will use its SIGKILL fallback"
-            printf '%s\n' "${denials}"
-            exit 1
-          fi
-
   e2e-vm:
     name: E2E (rust-vm-${{ matrix.suite }})
     # libkrun needs KVM, so this job must run directly on a GitHub-hosted
diff --git a/CI.md b/CI.md
index aae22f4c4f..9dd919d1bd 100644
--- a/CI.md
+++ b/CI.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Merge queue validation is a second integration gate for `main`. After a PR has p
 
 Three opt-in labels enable the long-running E2E suites:
 
-- `test:e2e` runs the standard Docker, rootless Podman, Kubernetes, and VM E2E
+- `test:e2e` runs the standard Docker, Kubernetes, and VM E2E
   suites in `Branch E2E Checks`
 - `test:e2e-gpu` runs GPU E2E in `Branch E2E Checks`
 - `test:e2e-kubernetes` runs Kubernetes E2E with the HA Helm overlay
diff --git a/e2e/rust/e2e-podman-rootless.sh b/e2e/rust/e2e-podman-rootless.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index d7fb5acd3c..0000000000
--- a/e2e/rust/e2e-podman-rootless.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
-
-# Run the Podman e2e suite and verify rootless mode.
-#
-# Identical to e2e-podman.sh but fails fast if Podman is not running
-# rootless. Use this to explicitly validate the rootless networking
-# path (pasta, host-gateway, bind address).
-
-set -euo pipefail
-
-rootless="$(podman info --format '{{.Host.Security.Rootless}}' 2>/dev/null || true)"
-if [ "${rootless}" != "true" ]; then
-  echo "ERROR: podman is not running rootless; expected true, got '${rootless:-<empty>}'" >&2
-  exit 2
-fi
-
-exec "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/e2e-podman.sh"
diff --git a/tasks/test.toml b/tasks/test.toml
index dfb632dda0..29e06b826a 100644
--- a/tasks/test.toml
+++ b/tasks/test.toml
@@ -136,10 +136,6 @@ run = [
   "CONTAINER_RUNTIME=docker e2e/with-keycloak.sh env OPENSHELL_E2E_OIDC_GATEWAY=1 e2e/with-docker-gateway.sh uv run pytest -m 'not gpu' e2e/python/oidc",
 ]
 
-["e2e:podman:rootless"]
-description = "Run Rust CLI e2e tests against a rootless Podman-backed gateway"
-run = "e2e/rust/e2e-podman-rootless.sh"
-
 ["e2e:podman:gpu"]
 description = "Run GPU e2e against a standalone gateway with the Podman compute driver"
 env = { OPENSHELL_E2E_PODMAN_GPU = "1", OPENSHELL_E2E_PODMAN_TEST = "gpu", OPENSHELL_E2E_PODMAN_FEATURES = "e2e-podman-gpu" }