diff --git a/pkg/upgrade/upgrades/delete_descriptors_of_dropped_functions.go b/pkg/upgrade/upgrades/delete_descriptors_of_dropped_functions.go
index b53de459ffab..1907e7e80ea4 100644
--- a/pkg/upgrade/upgrades/delete_descriptors_of_dropped_functions.go
+++ b/pkg/upgrade/upgrades/delete_descriptors_of_dropped_functions.go
@@ -15,10 +15,22 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/clusterversion"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/sql/catalog/descs"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/sql/isql"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/sql/sem/tree"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/upgrade"
 )
 
+const getMaxIDInBatch = `
+WITH id_batch AS (
+    SELECT id
+    FROM system.descriptor
+    WHERE id > $1
+    ORDER BY id
+    LIMIT $2
+)
+SELECT max(id) from id_batch;
+`
+
 const deleteDroppedFunctionQuery = `
 WITH to_json AS (
     SELECT 
@@ -30,6 +42,8 @@ WITH to_json AS (
       ) AS d
     FROM 
       system.descriptor
+    WHERE id > $1
+    AND id <= $2
 ),
 to_delete AS (
     SELECT id
@@ -40,15 +54,14 @@ to_delete AS (
       AND d->'function'->>'state' = 'DROP'
 )
 SELECT crdb_internal.unsafe_delete_descriptor(id, false)
-FROM to_delete
-WHERE id >= $1
-AND id < $2;
+FROM to_delete;
 `
 
 func deleteDescriptorsOfDroppedFunctions(
 	ctx context.Context, _ clusterversion.ClusterVersion, d upgrade.TenantDeps,
 ) error {
-	if err := d.DB.DescsTxn(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, txn descs.Txn) error {
+	var maxID int64
+	if err := d.DB.Txn(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, txn isql.Txn) error {
 		row, err := txn.QueryRow(
 			ctx,
 			"upgrade-delete-dropped-function-descriptors-get-max-descriptor-id",
@@ -60,25 +73,46 @@ func deleteDescriptorsOfDroppedFunctions(
 			return err
 		}
 
-		maxID := int(tree.MustBeDInt(row[0]))
-		const batchSize = 50
+		maxID = int64(tree.MustBeDInt(row[0]))
+		return nil
+	}); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	const batchSize = 50
+	for curID := int64(0); curID < maxID; {
+		if err := d.DB.DescsTxn(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, txn descs.Txn) error {
+
+			row, err := txn.QueryRow(
+				ctx,
+				"upgrade-delete-dropped-function-descriptors-get-batch-max-id",
+				txn.KV(),
+				getMaxIDInBatch,
+				curID,
+				batchSize,
+			)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			batchMaxID := int64(tree.MustBeDInt(row[0]))
 
-		for curID := 1; curID <= maxID; curID += batchSize {
-			_, err := txn.Exec(
+			_, err = txn.Exec(
 				ctx,
 				"upgrade-delete-dropped-function-descriptors", /* opName */
 				txn.KV(),
 				deleteDroppedFunctionQuery,
 				curID,
-				curID+batchSize,
+				batchMaxID,
 			)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
+			curID = batchMaxID
+
+			return nil
+		}); err != nil {
+			return err
 		}
-		return nil
-	}); err != nil {
-		return err
 	}
 	return nil
 }