diff --git a/criu/include/kerndat.h b/criu/include/kerndat.h
index c2164fa0a..d93e07813 100644
--- a/criu/include/kerndat.h
+++ b/criu/include/kerndat.h
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@ struct kerndat_s {
 	bool has_nsid;
 	bool has_link_nsid;
 	unsigned int sysctl_nr_open;
-	unsigned long files_stat_max_files;
 	bool x86_has_ptrace_fpu_xsave_bug;
 	bool has_inotify_setnextwd;
 	bool has_kcmp_epoll_tfd;
diff --git a/criu/kerndat.c b/criu/kerndat.c
index c158d6760..39cacb8fe 100644
--- a/criu/kerndat.c
+++ b/criu/kerndat.c
@@ -157,19 +157,12 @@ static void kerndat_mmap_min_addr(void)
 		 (unsigned long)kdat.mmap_min_addr);
 }
 
-static int kerndat_files_stat(bool early)
+static int kerndat_files_stat(void)
 {
 	static const uint32_t NR_OPEN_DEFAULT = 1024 * 1024;
-	static const uint64_t MAX_FILES_DEFAULT = 8192;
-	uint64_t max_files;
 	uint32_t nr_open;
 
 	struct sysctl_req req[] = {
-		{
-			.name	= "fs/file-max",
-			.arg	= &max_files,
-			.type	= CTL_U64,
-		},
 		{
 			.name	= "fs/nr_open",
 			.arg	= &nr_open,
@@ -177,50 +170,15 @@ static int kerndat_files_stat(bool early)
 		},
 	};
 
-	if (!early) {
-		if (sysctl_op(req, ARRAY_SIZE(req), CTL_READ, 0)) {
-			pr_warn("Can't fetch file_stat, using kernel defaults\n");
-			nr_open = NR_OPEN_DEFAULT;
-			max_files = MAX_FILES_DEFAULT;
-		}
-	} else {
-		char buf[64];
-		int fd1, fd2;
-		ssize_t ret;
-
-		fd1 = open("/proc/sys/fs/file-max", O_RDONLY);
-		fd2 = open("/proc/sys/fs/nr_open", O_RDONLY);
-
+	if (sysctl_op(req, ARRAY_SIZE(req), CTL_READ, 0)) {
+		pr_warn("Can't fetch file_stat, using kernel defaults\n");
 		nr_open = NR_OPEN_DEFAULT;
-		max_files = MAX_FILES_DEFAULT;
-
-		if (fd1 < 0 || fd2 < 0) {
-			pr_warn("Can't fetch file_stat, using kernel defaults\n");
-		} else {
-			ret = read(fd1, buf, sizeof(buf) - 1);
-			if (ret > 0) {
-				buf[ret] = '\0';
-				max_files = atol(buf);
-			}
-			ret = read(fd2, buf, sizeof(buf) - 1);
-			if (ret > 0) {
-				buf[ret] = '\0';
-				nr_open = atol(buf);
-			}
-		}
-
-		if (fd1 >= 0)
-			close(fd1);
-		if (fd2 >= 0)
-			close(fd2);
 	}
 
 	kdat.sysctl_nr_open = nr_open;
-	kdat.files_stat_max_files = max_files;
 
-	pr_debug("files stat: %s %lu, %s %u\n",
-		 req[0].name, kdat.files_stat_max_files,
-		 req[1].name, kdat.sysctl_nr_open);
+	pr_debug("files stat: %s %u\n",
+		 req[0].name, kdat.sysctl_nr_open);
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -1088,7 +1046,7 @@ int kerndat_init(void)
 
 	kerndat_lsm();
 	kerndat_mmap_min_addr();
-	kerndat_files_stat(false);
+	kerndat_files_stat();
 
 	if (!ret)
 		kerndat_save_cache();