diff --git a/repos/base-linux/src/core/include/core_linux_syscalls.h b/repos/base-linux/src/core/include/core_linux_syscalls.h
index c3bd08514e..a18e77d442 100644
--- a/repos/base-linux/src/core/include/core_linux_syscalls.h
+++ b/repos/base-linux/src/core/include/core_linux_syscalls.h
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 #define size_t __SIZE_TYPE__ /* see comment in 'linux_syscalls.h' */
 #include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <sys/resource.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #undef size_t
 
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ inline int lx_stat(const char *path, struct stat64 *buf)
 #endif
 }
 
+
 /***********************************************************
  ** Functions used by core's io port session support code **
  ***********************************************************/
@@ -180,6 +182,27 @@ inline void lx_disable_aslr()
 }
 
 
+/***********************************
+ ** Resource-limit initialization **
+ ***********************************/
+
+inline void lx_boost_rlimit()
+{
+	rlimit rlimit { };
+
+	if (int const res = lx_syscall(SYS_getrlimit, RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rlimit)) {
+		Genode::warning("unable to obtain RLIMIT_NOFILE (", res, "), keeping limit unchanged");
+		return;
+	}
+
+	/* increase soft limit to hard limit */
+	rlimit.rlim_cur = rlimit.rlim_max;
+
+	if (int const res = lx_syscall(SYS_setrlimit, RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rlimit))
+		Genode::warning("unable to boost RLIMIT_NOFILE (", res, "), keeping limit unchanged");
+}
+
+
 /********************************************
  ** Communication over Unix-domain sockets **
  ********************************************/
diff --git a/repos/base-linux/src/core/platform.cc b/repos/base-linux/src/core/platform.cc
index 927baf19c2..d4ff1d7fb1 100644
--- a/repos/base-linux/src/core/platform.cc
+++ b/repos/base-linux/src/core/platform.cc
@@ -94,6 +94,9 @@ Platform::Platform()
 	/* make 'mmap' behave deterministically */
 	lx_disable_aslr();
 
+	/* increase maximum number of open file descriptors to the hard limit */
+	lx_boost_rlimit();
+
 	/* catch control-c */
 	lx_sigaction(LX_SIGINT, sigint_handler, false);
 
diff --git a/repos/gems/run/leitzentrale.run b/repos/gems/run/leitzentrale.run
index 6dc91398e3..cded4fe7c3 100644
--- a/repos/gems/run/leitzentrale.run
+++ b/repos/gems/run/leitzentrale.run
@@ -350,15 +350,5 @@ build { server/lx_block app/menu_view app/sculpt_manager }
 
 build_boot_image { lx_block menu_view sculpt_manager ahci-1.img }
 
-if {[have_spec linux]} {
-	set max_fds [exec bash -c "ulimit -n"]
-	if {$max_fds < 4096} {
-		puts stderr "\nMaximum number of file descriptors is too low for this run script."
-		puts stderr "You may use the following command to increase the limit:\n"
-		puts stderr "  ulimit -n 4096\n"
-		exit 1
-	}
-}
-
 run_genode_until forever
 
diff --git a/repos/gems/run/tiled_wm.run b/repos/gems/run/tiled_wm.run
index ca92383506..8c9a11fcea 100644
--- a/repos/gems/run/tiled_wm.run
+++ b/repos/gems/run/tiled_wm.run
@@ -12,15 +12,6 @@ if {[have_spec odroid_xu]} {
 	exit 0
 }
 
-if {[have_spec linux]} {
-	set max_fds [exec bash -c "ulimit -n"]
-	if {$max_fds < 4096} {
-		puts stderr "\nMaximum number of file descriptors is too low for this run script."
-		puts stderr "You may use the following command to increase the limit:\n"
-		puts stderr "  ulimit -n 4096\n"
-		exit 1
-	}
-}
 
 #
 # Generate config