diff --git a/tests/integration/exec.bats b/tests/integration/exec.bats
index c598718de..0ff2e6364 100644
--- a/tests/integration/exec.bats
+++ b/tests/integration/exec.bats
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ function teardown() {
   runc run -d --console-socket $CONSOLE_SOCKET test_busybox
   [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
 
-  run bash -c "cat hello > preserve-fds.test; exec 3<preserve-fds.test; $RUNC --log /proc/self/fd/2 --root $ROOT exec --preserve-fds=1 test_busybox cat /proc/self/fd/3"
+  run bash -c "cat hello > preserve-fds.test; exec 3<preserve-fds.test; $RUNC ${RUNC_USE_SYSTEMD:+--systemd-cgroup} --log /proc/self/fd/2 --root $ROOT exec --preserve-fds=1 test_busybox cat /proc/self/fd/3"
   [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
 
   [[ "${output}" == *"hello"* ]]
diff --git a/tests/integration/helpers.bash b/tests/integration/helpers.bash
index da7a98c58..809b47677 100644
--- a/tests/integration/helpers.bash
+++ b/tests/integration/helpers.bash
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ function runc() {
 
 # Raw wrapper for runc.
 function __runc() {
-	"$RUNC" --log /proc/self/fd/2 --root "$ROOT" "$@"
+	"$RUNC" ${RUNC_USE_SYSTEMD+--systemd-cgroup} --log /proc/self/fd/2 --root "$ROOT" "$@"
 }
 
 # Wrapper for runc spec, which takes only one argument (the bundle path).