diff --git a/hadoop-hdds/container-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/container/common/transport/server/XceiverServerDomainSocket.java b/hadoop-hdds/container-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/container/common/transport/server/XceiverServerDomainSocket.java
index 10844417db2..c1826d38d2c 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdds/container-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/container/common/transport/server/XceiverServerDomainSocket.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdds/container-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ozone/container/common/transport/server/XceiverServerDomainSocket.java
@@ -232,9 +232,19 @@ public void run() {
         // another thread closed our listener socket - that's expected during shutdown, but not in other circumstances
         LOG.info("XceiverServerDomainSocket is closed", ace);
       } catch (IOException ie) {
-        // usually when the xceiver count limit is hit.
-        LOG.warn("Got an exception. Peer {}", peer, ie);
-        IOUtils.closeQuietly(peer);
+        if (peer == null) {
+          // accept() itself failed, for example with no file descriptor left, and would fail again right away
+          LOG.warn("accept() failed. Will retry after 1 second.", ie);
+          try {
+            Thread.sleep(TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(1L));
+          } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+          }
+        } else {
+          // usually when the xceiver count limit is hit.
+          LOG.warn("Got an exception. Peer {}", peer, ie);
+          IOUtils.closeQuietly(peer);
+        }
       } catch (OutOfMemoryError ie) {
         IOUtils.closeQuietly(peer);
         // DataNode can run out of memory if there is too many transfers.
diff --git a/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/TestXceiverServerDomainSocket.java b/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/TestXceiverServerDomainSocket.java
index d5e9b3c0eb1..62f6b5d1251 100644
--- a/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/TestXceiverServerDomainSocket.java
+++ b/hadoop-ozone/integration-test/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/TestXceiverServerDomainSocket.java
@@ -28,7 +28,10 @@
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertSame;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.fail;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.RETURNS_DEEP_STUBS;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mockStatic;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
@@ -52,6 +55,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.RandomStringUtils;
@@ -95,6 +99,7 @@
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
 import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
 import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.CsvSource;
+import org.mockito.MockedStatic;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 /**
@@ -636,6 +641,36 @@ public void testMaxXceiverCount() throws Exception {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * A failed accept(), for example with no file descriptor left, is retried after a pause instead of at once.
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testAcceptFailureIsRetriedAfterPause() throws Exception {
+    conf.set(ScmConfigKeys.HDDS_DATANODE_DIR_KEY, dir.getAbsolutePath());
+    AtomicInteger accepts = new AtomicInteger();
+    DomainSocket listener = mock(DomainSocket.class, RETURNS_DEEP_STUBS);
+    when(listener.accept()).thenAnswer(invocation -> {
+      accepts.incrementAndGet();
+      throw new SocketException("accept(2) error: Too many open files");
+    });
+    DomainSocketFactory factory = mock(DomainSocketFactory.class);
+    when(factory.isServiceEnabled()).thenReturn(true);
+    when(factory.isServiceReady()).thenReturn(true);
+    XceiverServerDomainSocket server;
+    try (MockedStatic<DomainSocket> domainSocket = mockStatic(DomainSocket.class)) {
+      domainSocket.when(() -> DomainSocket.bindAndListen(any())).thenReturn(listener);
+      server = new XceiverServerDomainSocket(randomDatanodeDetails(), conf, null, readExecutors, metrics, factory);
+    }
+    try {
+      server.start();
+      GenericTestUtils.waitFor(() -> accepts.get() > 0, 10, 5000);
+      Thread.sleep(500);
+      assertTrue(accepts.get() <= 2, "accept() was called " + accepts.get() + " times");
+    } finally {
+      server.stop();
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * When server receives any message which doesn't follow the version, request type, request body sequence, server
    * will treat it as a critical error, close the connection.