diff --git a/ironic_python_agent/shell/write_image.sh b/ironic_python_agent/shell/write_image.sh
index 3f07e07aa..c8fa0cefa 100755
--- a/ironic_python_agent/shell/write_image.sh
+++ b/ironic_python_agent/shell/write_image.sh
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ log "Erasing existing GPT and MBR data structures from ${DEVICE}"
 sgdisk -Z $DEVICE
 
 log "Imaging $IMAGEFILE to $DEVICE"
+
+# limit the memory usage for qemu-img to 1 GiB
+ulimit -v 1048576
 qemu-img convert -t directsync -O host_device $IMAGEFILE $DEVICE
 sync
 
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/limit-qemu-img-ram-usage-d7b7a16ac5e9c917.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/limit-qemu-img-ram-usage-d7b7a16ac5e9c917.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..56fff0b4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/limit-qemu-img-ram-usage-d7b7a16ac5e9c917.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Limits the memory usage of ``qemu-img convert`` command to 1 GiB to
+    avoid it from causing the host machine to fail due not enough ram.