diff --git a/tool/planet/agent.go b/tool/planet/agent.go
index bd187df32..c9ed1cc46 100644
--- a/tool/planet/agent.go
+++ b/tool/planet/agent.go
@@ -314,6 +314,8 @@ func runAgent(conf *agent.Config, monitoringConf *monitoring.Config, leaderConf
 		}
 	}
 
+	go runSystemdCgroupCleaner(ctx)
+
 	signalc := make(chan os.Signal, 2)
 	signal.Notify(signalc, os.Interrupt, syscall.SIGTERM)
 
diff --git a/tool/planet/cgroup.go b/tool/planet/cgroup.go
index 9a66db31e..386dbd55e 100644
--- a/tool/planet/cgroup.go
+++ b/tool/planet/cgroup.go
@@ -37,12 +37,16 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
 	"path"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"text/template"
+	"time"
 
 	systemdDbus "github.com/coreos/go-systemd/dbus"
 	"github.com/davecgh/go-spew/spew"
@@ -320,3 +324,147 @@ func u64(n uint64) *uint64 {
 func i64(n int64) *int64 {
 	return &n
 }
+
+// runSystemdScopeCleaner implements a workaround for a kubernetes/systemd issue with cgroups/systemd scopes that leak
+// under certain circumstances, usually when using a kubernetes cronjob with a mount. This appears to be mostly a
+// systemd or kernel issue, where the pids running within the scope do not cause the scope to complete and clean up
+// resulting in leaking memory.
+// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/70324
+// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/64137
+// https://github.com/gravitational/gravity/issues/1219
+//
+// Kubernetes is using systemd-run --scope when creating mounts within systemd.
+// https://github.com/gravitational/kubernetes/blob/1c045a09db662c6660562d88deff2733ca17dcf8/pkg/util/mount/mount_linux.go#L108-L131
+//
+// To clean up this leak, we want to scan for run-xxx.scope cgroups that do not have any processes, are atleast a minute
+// old, and then have systemd remove scopes that do not hold any processes / where all processes have exited.
+func runSystemdCgroupCleaner(ctx context.Context) {
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(15 * time.Minute)
+	defer ticker.Stop()
+
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-ticker.C:
+			err := cleanSystemdScopes()
+			if err != nil {
+				logrus.WithError(err).Warn("Failed to clean systemd scopes that don't contain processes")
+			}
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func cleanSystemdScopes() error {
+	log := logrus.WithField(trace.Component, "cgroup-cleaner")
+
+	conn, err := systemdDbus.New()
+	if err != nil {
+		return trace.Wrap(err)
+	}
+	defer conn.Close()
+
+	var paths []string
+
+	baseTime := time.Now().Add(-time.Minute)
+
+	root := "/sys/fs/cgroup/systemd/"
+	err = filepath.Walk(root, func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+		if err != nil {
+			return trace.ConvertSystemError(err)
+		}
+
+		// A run scope will have a directory name that looks something like run-r2343e8b13fd44b1297e241421fc1f6e3.scope
+		// We also want to protect against potential races, where the cgroup is created but doesn't have any pids
+		// added yet. So only consider paths that have existed for atleast a minute to be safe
+		if strings.HasPrefix(info.Name(), "run-") &&
+			strings.HasSuffix(info.Name(), ".scope") &&
+			baseTime.After(info.ModTime()) {
+			paths = append(paths, path)
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		log.WithError(err).Warn("Error occurred while scanning cgroup hierarchy for unused systemd scopes.")
+	}
+
+	for _, path := range paths {
+		unitName := filepath.Base(path)
+		log := log.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
+			"path": path,
+			"unit": unitName,
+		})
+
+		// the cgroup virtual filesystem does not report file sizes, so we need to read the cgroup.procs file
+		// to see if there are any contents (any processes listed)
+		// http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/cgroups.7.html
+		// The cgroup.procs file can be read to obtain a list of the processes
+		// that are members of a cgroup.  The returned list of PIDs is not guar‐
+		// anteed to be in order.  Nor is it guaranteed to be free of dupli‐
+		// cates.  (For example, a PID may be recycled while reading from the
+		// list.)
+		procsPath := filepath.Join(path, "cgroup.procs")
+		pids, err := ioutil.ReadFile(procsPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			if !trace.IsNotFound(trace.ConvertSystemError(err)) {
+				log.WithError(err).Warn("Failed to read process list belonging to cgroup.")
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if len(pids) != 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		_, err = conn.StopUnit(unitName, "replace", nil)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.WithError(err).Warn("Failed to stop systemd unit.")
+			continue
+		}
+
+		log.Info("Stopped systemd scope unit with no pids.")
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+/*
+Extra Notes for Cgroup Cleanup.
+The issue can be reproduced on centos 7.7.1908 with the following kubernetes config
+
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Secret
+metadata:
+  name: mysecret
+type: Opaque
+data:
+  username: YWRtaW4=
+  password: MWYyZDFlMmU2N2Rm
+---
+apiVersion: batch/v1beta1
+kind: CronJob
+metadata:
+  name: hello
+spec:
+  schedule: "* * * * *"
+  jobTemplate:
+    spec:
+      template:
+        spec:
+          containers:
+          - name: hello
+            image: busybox
+            args:
+            - /bin/sh
+            - -c
+            - date; echo Hello from the Kubernetes clusterl; sleep 60
+            volumeMounts:
+            - name: foo
+              mountPath: "/etc/foo"
+              readOnly: true
+          restartPolicy: OnFailure
+          volumes:
+          - name: foo
+            secret:
+                    secretName: mysecret
+*/