diff --git a/qa/suites/orch/cephadm/workunits/task/test_iscsi_pids_limit.yaml b/qa/suites/orch/cephadm/workunits/task/test_iscsi_pids_limit.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b271777e187
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qa/suites/orch/cephadm/workunits/task/test_iscsi_pids_limit.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+roles:
+- - host.a
+  - osd.0
+  - osd.1
+  - osd.2
+  - mon.a
+  - mgr.a
+  - client.0
+tasks:
+- install:
+- cephadm:
+- cephadm.shell:
+    host.a:
+      - ceph osd pool create foo
+      - rbd pool init foo
+      - ceph orch apply iscsi foo u p
+- workunit:
+    clients:
+      client.0:
+        - cephadm/test_iscsi_pids_limit.sh
diff --git a/qa/workunits/cephadm/test_iscsi_pids_limit.sh b/qa/workunits/cephadm/test_iscsi_pids_limit.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..32326f140f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qa/workunits/cephadm/test_iscsi_pids_limit.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# checks if the containers default pids-limit (4096) is removed and Iscsi
+# containers continue to run
+# exits 1 if fails
+
+set -ex
+
+ISCSI_CONT_IDS=$(sudo podman ps -qa --filter='name=iscsi')
+CONT_COUNT=$(echo ${ISCSI_CONT_IDS} | wc -w)
+test ${CONT_COUNT} -eq 2
+
+for i in ${ISCSI_CONT_IDS}
+do
+  sudo podman exec ${i} /bin/sh -c 'for j in {0..20000}; do sleep 30 & done'
+done
+
+for i in ${ISCSI_CONT_IDS}
+do
+  SLEEP_COUNT=$(sudo podman exec ${i} /bin/sh -c 'ps -ef | grep -c sleep')
+  test ${SLEEP_COUNT} -gt 20000
+done
+
+echo OK
diff --git a/src/cephadm/cephadm b/src/cephadm/cephadm
index 51b1f986bec..88a98726404 100755
--- a/src/cephadm/cephadm
+++ b/src/cephadm/cephadm
@@ -813,6 +813,10 @@ class CephIscsi(object):
         # remove extra container args for tcmu container.
         # extra args could cause issue with forking service type
         tcmu_container.container_args = []
+        # set container limits to unlimited as defaults (Docker 4096 / Podman 2048)
+        # prevents the creation of max lun (default 255)
+        pids_unlimited = '-1' if isinstance(self.ctx.container_engine, Podman) else '0'
+        tcmu_container.container_args.extend(['--pids-limit=%s' % pids_unlimited])
         return tcmu_container
 
 ##################################
@@ -2782,6 +2786,8 @@ def get_container(ctx: CephadmContext,
         envs.extend(Keepalived.get_container_envs())
         container_args.extend(['--cap-add=NET_ADMIN', '--cap-add=NET_RAW'])
     elif daemon_type == CephIscsi.daemon_type:
+        # Applies only on rbd-target-api as get_tcmu_runner_container()
+        # removes all tcmu-runner arguments
         entrypoint = CephIscsi.entrypoint
         name = '%s.%s' % (daemon_type, daemon_id)
         # So the container can modprobe iscsi_target_mod and have write perms
@@ -2815,6 +2821,8 @@ def get_container(ctx: CephadmContext,
 
     # if using podman, set -d, --conmon-pidfile & --cidfile flags
     # so service can have Type=Forking
+    # set containers limits to unlimited as defaults (Docker 4096 / Podman 2048)
+    # prevents some app customizations from running
     if isinstance(ctx.container_engine, Podman):
         runtime_dir = '/run'
         container_args.extend([
@@ -2823,9 +2831,14 @@ def get_container(ctx: CephadmContext,
             runtime_dir + '/ceph-%s@%s.%s.service-pid' % (fsid, daemon_type, daemon_id),
             '--cidfile',
             runtime_dir + '/ceph-%s@%s.%s.service-cid' % (fsid, daemon_type, daemon_id),
+            '--pids-limit=-1',
         ])
         if ctx.container_engine.version >= CGROUPS_SPLIT_PODMAN_VERSION:
             container_args.append('--cgroups=split')
+    else:
+        container_args.extend([
+            '--pids-limit=0',
+        ])
 
     return CephContainer.for_daemon(
         ctx,
diff --git a/src/cephadm/tests/test_cephadm.py b/src/cephadm/tests/test_cephadm.py
index 172fbaa23e3..bf7f48183de 100644
--- a/src/cephadm/tests/test_cephadm.py
+++ b/src/cephadm/tests/test_cephadm.py
@@ -1308,11 +1308,11 @@ if ! grep -qs /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id
 # iscsi tcmu-runner container
 ! /usr/bin/podman rm -f ceph-9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9-iscsi.daemon_id-tcmu 2> /dev/null
 ! /usr/bin/podman rm -f ceph-9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9-iscsi-daemon_id-tcmu 2> /dev/null
-/usr/bin/podman run --rm --ipc=host --stop-signal=SIGTERM --net=host --entrypoint /usr/bin/tcmu-runner --privileged --group-add=disk --init --name ceph-9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9-iscsi-daemon_id-tcmu -e CONTAINER_IMAGE=ceph/ceph -e NODE_NAME=host1 -e CEPH_USE_RANDOM_NONCE=1 -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/config:/etc/ceph/ceph.conf:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/keyring:/etc/ceph/keyring:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/iscsi-gateway.cfg:/etc/ceph/iscsi-gateway.cfg:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/configfs:/sys/kernel/config -v /var/log/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9:/var/log:z -v /dev:/dev --mount type=bind,source=/lib/modules,destination=/lib/modules,ro=true ceph/ceph &
+/usr/bin/podman run --rm --ipc=host --stop-signal=SIGTERM --net=host --entrypoint /usr/bin/tcmu-runner --privileged --group-add=disk --init --name ceph-9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9-iscsi-daemon_id-tcmu --pids-limit=0 -e CONTAINER_IMAGE=ceph/ceph -e NODE_NAME=host1 -e CEPH_USE_RANDOM_NONCE=1 -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/config:/etc/ceph/ceph.conf:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/keyring:/etc/ceph/keyring:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/iscsi-gateway.cfg:/etc/ceph/iscsi-gateway.cfg:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/configfs:/sys/kernel/config -v /var/log/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9:/var/log:z -v /dev:/dev --mount type=bind,source=/lib/modules,destination=/lib/modules,ro=true ceph/ceph &
 # iscsi.daemon_id
 ! /usr/bin/podman rm -f ceph-9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9-iscsi.daemon_id 2> /dev/null
 ! /usr/bin/podman rm -f ceph-9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9-iscsi-daemon_id 2> /dev/null
-/usr/bin/podman run --rm --ipc=host --stop-signal=SIGTERM --net=host --entrypoint /usr/bin/rbd-target-api --privileged --group-add=disk --init --name ceph-9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9-iscsi-daemon_id -e CONTAINER_IMAGE=ceph/ceph -e NODE_NAME=host1 -e CEPH_USE_RANDOM_NONCE=1 -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/config:/etc/ceph/ceph.conf:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/keyring:/etc/ceph/keyring:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/iscsi-gateway.cfg:/etc/ceph/iscsi-gateway.cfg:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/configfs:/sys/kernel/config -v /var/log/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9:/var/log:z -v /dev:/dev --mount type=bind,source=/lib/modules,destination=/lib/modules,ro=true ceph/ceph
+/usr/bin/podman run --rm --ipc=host --stop-signal=SIGTERM --net=host --entrypoint /usr/bin/rbd-target-api --privileged --group-add=disk --init --name ceph-9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9-iscsi-daemon_id --pids-limit=0 -e CONTAINER_IMAGE=ceph/ceph -e NODE_NAME=host1 -e CEPH_USE_RANDOM_NONCE=1 -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/config:/etc/ceph/ceph.conf:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/keyring:/etc/ceph/keyring:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/iscsi-gateway.cfg:/etc/ceph/iscsi-gateway.cfg:z -v /var/lib/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9/iscsi.daemon_id/configfs:/sys/kernel/config -v /var/log/ceph/9b9d7609-f4d5-4aba-94c8-effa764d96c9:/var/log:z -v /dev:/dev --mount type=bind,source=/lib/modules,destination=/lib/modules,ro=true ceph/ceph
 """
 
     def test_get_container(self):