diff --git a/python/ray/worker.py b/python/ray/worker.py
index 430f59af2..d66ed20b9 100644
--- a/python/ray/worker.py
+++ b/python/ray/worker.py
@@ -608,6 +608,8 @@ def init(
         import resource
         soft, hard = resource.getrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE)
         if soft < hard:
+            # https://github.com/ray-project/ray/issues/12059
+            soft = max(soft, min(hard, 65536))
             logger.debug("Automatically increasing RLIMIT_NOFILE to max "
                          "value of {}".format(hard))
             try: