diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/fs.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/fs.go
index 90a0b49b0..fb4fcc7f7 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/fs.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/fs.go
@@ -13,25 +13,22 @@ import (
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs"
 )
 
-var (
-	subsystems = []subsystem{
-		&CpusetGroup{},
-		&DevicesGroup{},
-		&MemoryGroup{},
-		&CpuGroup{},
-		&CpuacctGroup{},
-		&PidsGroup{},
-		&BlkioGroup{},
-		&HugetlbGroup{},
-		&NetClsGroup{},
-		&NetPrioGroup{},
-		&PerfEventGroup{},
-		&FreezerGroup{},
-		&RdmaGroup{},
-		&NameGroup{GroupName: "name=systemd", Join: true},
-	}
-	HugePageSizes = cgroups.HugePageSizes()
-)
+var subsystems = []subsystem{
+	&CpusetGroup{},
+	&DevicesGroup{},
+	&MemoryGroup{},
+	&CpuGroup{},
+	&CpuacctGroup{},
+	&PidsGroup{},
+	&BlkioGroup{},
+	&HugetlbGroup{},
+	&NetClsGroup{},
+	&NetPrioGroup{},
+	&PerfEventGroup{},
+	&FreezerGroup{},
+	&RdmaGroup{},
+	&NameGroup{GroupName: "name=systemd", Join: true},
+}
 
 var errSubsystemDoesNotExist = errors.New("cgroup: subsystem does not exist")
 
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/hugetlb.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/hugetlb.go
index 86650128c..8ddd6fdd8 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/hugetlb.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/hugetlb.go
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@ func (s *HugetlbGroup) Set(path string, r *configs.Resources) error {
 }
 
 func (s *HugetlbGroup) GetStats(path string, stats *cgroups.Stats) error {
-	hugetlbStats := cgroups.HugetlbStats{}
 	if !cgroups.PathExists(path) {
 		return nil
 	}
-	for _, pageSize := range HugePageSizes {
+	hugetlbStats := cgroups.HugetlbStats{}
+	for _, pageSize := range cgroups.HugePageSizes() {
 		usage := "hugetlb." + pageSize + ".usage_in_bytes"
 		value, err := fscommon.GetCgroupParamUint(path, usage)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/hugetlb_test.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/hugetlb_test.go
index ba54f35a1..f4aea7eb5 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/hugetlb_test.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs/hugetlb_test.go
@@ -31,14 +31,14 @@ func TestHugetlbSetHugetlb(t *testing.T) {
 		hugetlbAfter  = 512
 	)
 
-	for _, pageSize := range HugePageSizes {
+	for _, pageSize := range cgroups.HugePageSizes() {
 		writeFileContents(t, path, map[string]string{
 			fmt.Sprintf(limit, pageSize): strconv.Itoa(hugetlbBefore),
 		})
 	}
 
 	r := &configs.Resources{}
-	for _, pageSize := range HugePageSizes {
+	for _, pageSize := range cgroups.HugePageSizes() {
 		r.HugetlbLimit = []*configs.HugepageLimit{
 			{
 				Pagesize: pageSize,
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ func TestHugetlbSetHugetlb(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	for _, pageSize := range HugePageSizes {
+	for _, pageSize := range cgroups.HugePageSizes() {
 		limit := fmt.Sprintf(limit, pageSize)
 		value, err := fscommon.GetCgroupParamUint(path, limit)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ func TestHugetlbSetHugetlb(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestHugetlbStats(t *testing.T) {
 	path := tempDir(t, "hugetlb")
-	for _, pageSize := range HugePageSizes {
+	for _, pageSize := range cgroups.HugePageSizes() {
 		writeFileContents(t, path, map[string]string{
 			fmt.Sprintf(usage, pageSize):    hugetlbUsageContents,
 			fmt.Sprintf(maxUsage, pageSize): hugetlbMaxUsageContents,
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ func TestHugetlbStats(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	expectedStats := cgroups.HugetlbStats{Usage: 128, MaxUsage: 256, Failcnt: 100}
-	for _, pageSize := range HugePageSizes {
+	for _, pageSize := range cgroups.HugePageSizes() {
 		expectHugetlbStatEquals(t, expectedStats, actualStats.HugetlbStats[pageSize])
 	}
 }
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func TestHugetlbStatsNoUsageFile(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestHugetlbStatsNoMaxUsageFile(t *testing.T) {
 	path := tempDir(t, "hugetlb")
-	for _, pageSize := range HugePageSizes {
+	for _, pageSize := range cgroups.HugePageSizes() {
 		writeFileContents(t, path, map[string]string{
 			fmt.Sprintf(usage, pageSize): hugetlbUsageContents,
 		})
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ func TestHugetlbStatsNoMaxUsageFile(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestHugetlbStatsBadUsageFile(t *testing.T) {
 	path := tempDir(t, "hugetlb")
-	for _, pageSize := range HugePageSizes {
+	for _, pageSize := range cgroups.HugePageSizes() {
 		writeFileContents(t, path, map[string]string{
 			fmt.Sprintf(usage, pageSize): "bad",
 			maxUsage:                     hugetlbMaxUsageContents,
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/hugetlb.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/hugetlb.go
index 3955f0781..c92a7e64a 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/hugetlb.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/hugetlb.go
@@ -26,10 +26,8 @@ func setHugeTlb(dirPath string, r *configs.Resources) error {
 }
 
 func statHugeTlb(dirPath string, stats *cgroups.Stats) error {
-	hugePageSizes := cgroups.HugePageSizes()
 	hugetlbStats := cgroups.HugetlbStats{}
-
-	for _, pagesize := range hugePageSizes {
+	for _, pagesize := range cgroups.HugePageSizes() {
 		value, err := fscommon.GetCgroupParamUint(dirPath, "hugetlb."+pagesize+".current")
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/utils.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/utils.go
index f96e4dedf..1577c41ef 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/utils.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/utils.go
@@ -302,18 +302,26 @@ func RemovePaths(paths map[string]string) (err error) {
 	return fmt.Errorf("Failed to remove paths: %v", paths)
 }
 
-func HugePageSizes() []string {
-	dir, err := os.OpenFile("/sys/kernel/mm/hugepages", unix.O_DIRECTORY|unix.O_RDONLY, 0)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil
-	}
-	files, err := dir.Readdirnames(0)
-	dir.Close()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil
-	}
+var (
+	hugePageSizes []string
+	initHPSOnce   sync.Once
+)
+
+func HugePageSizes() []string {
+	initHPSOnce.Do(func() {
+		dir, err := os.OpenFile("/sys/kernel/mm/hugepages", unix.O_DIRECTORY|unix.O_RDONLY, 0)
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		files, err := dir.Readdirnames(0)
+		dir.Close()
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+
+		hugePageSizes, _ = getHugePageSizeFromFilenames(files)
+	})
 
-	hugePageSizes, _ := getHugePageSizeFromFilenames(files)
 	return hugePageSizes
 }
 
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/utils_test.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/utils_test.go
index a0a261dee..708015d44 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/utils_test.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/utils_test.go
@@ -448,16 +448,6 @@ func TestFindCgroupMountpointAndRoot(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func BenchmarkHugePageSizes(b *testing.B) {
-	var output []string
-	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		output = HugePageSizes()
-	}
-	if len(output) == 0 {
-		b.Fatal("unexpected results")
-	}
-}
-
 func BenchmarkGetHugePageSizeImpl(b *testing.B) {
 	var (
 		input  = []string{"hugepages-1048576kB", "hugepages-2048kB", "hugepages-32768kB", "hugepages-64kB"}