diff --git a/common.yaml b/common.yaml
index c59c7fd71..49cdb606f 100644
--- a/common.yaml
+++ b/common.yaml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ ostree-layers:
   - overlay/05rhcos
   - overlay/06gcp-routes
   - overlay/15rhcos-tuned-bits
+  - overlay/15rhcos-rhel8-workarounds  # TODO conditionalize on rhel8
   - overlay/20platform-chrony
   - overlay/21dhcp-chrony
 
diff --git a/overlay.d/15rhcos-rhel8-workarounds/usr/lib/systemd/system/rpm-ostreed.service.d/startlimit.conf b/overlay.d/15rhcos-rhel8-workarounds/usr/lib/systemd/system/rpm-ostreed.service.d/startlimit.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..843e5c4b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/overlay.d/15rhcos-rhel8-workarounds/usr/lib/systemd/system/rpm-ostreed.service.d/startlimit.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[Unit]
+# Work around for lack of https://github.com/coreos/rpm-ostree/pull/3523/commits/0556152adb14a8e1cdf6c5d6f234aacbe8dd4e3f
+# on older RHEL
+StartLimitBurst=1000
diff --git a/tests/kola/rpm-ostree/startlimit b/tests/kola/rpm-ostree/startlimit
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..2b0707d60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/kola/rpm-ostree/startlimit
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -euo pipefail
+# https://github.com/coreos/rpm-ostree/pull/3523/commits/0556152adb14a8e1cdf6c5d6f234aacbe8dd4e3f
+for x in $(seq 10); do rpm-ostree status >/dev/null; done
+echo ok