diff --git a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
index 588c0deda29..7a8d458170a 100644
--- a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ import (
 	utilruntime "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/field"
+	utilversion "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/version"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
 	genericapiserver "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server"
 	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/flagz"
@@ -120,6 +121,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/watchdog"
 	utilfs "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/filesystem"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/flock"
+	utilkernel "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/kernel"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/oom"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/rlimit"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/volume/util/hostutil"
@@ -642,10 +644,20 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, s *options.KubeletServer, kubeDeps *kubelet.Depend
 		return err
 	}
 
-	// Warn if MemoryQoS enabled with cgroups v1
-	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.MemoryQoS) &&
-		!kubeletutil.IsCgroup2UnifiedMode() {
-		logger.Info("Warning: MemoryQoS feature only works with cgroups v2 on Linux, but enabled with cgroups v1")
+	// Warn about MemoryQoS compatibility issues
+	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.MemoryQoS) {
+		if !kubeletutil.IsCgroup2UnifiedMode() {
+			logger.Info("Warning: MemoryQoS feature only works with cgroups v2 on Linux, but enabled with cgroups v1")
+		} else {
+			kernelVersion, err := utilkernel.GetVersion()
+			if err != nil {
+				logger.Error(err, "Failed to detect kernel version for MemoryQoS compatibility check")
+			} else if kernelVersion.LessThan(utilversion.MustParseGeneric(utilkernel.MemoryQoSMinKernelVersion)) {
+				logger.Info("Warning: MemoryQoS memory.high throttling may cause process livelock on older kernels",
+					"currentKernel", kernelVersion,
+					"minimumKernel", utilkernel.MemoryQoSMinKernelVersion)
+			}
+		}
 	}
 	// Obtain Kubelet Lock File
 	if s.ExitOnLockContention && s.LockFilePath == "" {
diff --git a/pkg/util/kernel/constants.go b/pkg/util/kernel/constants.go
index 1467f6c229d..b178110ea91 100644
--- a/pkg/util/kernel/constants.go
+++ b/pkg/util/kernel/constants.go
@@ -58,3 +58,9 @@ const TCPReceiveMemoryNamespacedKernelVersion = "4.15"
 // TCPTransmitMemoryNamespacedKernelVersion is the kernel version in which net.ipv4.tcp_wmem was namespaced(netns).
 // (ref: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/356d1833b638bd465672aefeb71def3ab93fc17d)
 const TCPTransmitMemoryNamespacedKernelVersion = "4.15"
+
+// MemoryQoSMinKernelVersion is the minimum kernel version for safe memory.high throttling.
+// Kernels older than 5.9 have a livelock bug where processes can get stuck in an infinite
+// reclaim loop at the memory.high boundary.
+// (ref: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/b3ff92916af3156df27716bb080a407e4caf9085)
+const MemoryQoSMinKernelVersion = "5.9"