diff --git a/distributed/system.py b/distributed/system.py
index 95d8df1086c..057b9df6728 100644
--- a/distributed/system.py
+++ b/distributed/system.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import logging
 import sys
 
 import psutil
@@ -7,6 +8,9 @@
 __all__ = ("memory_limit", "MEMORY_LIMIT")
 
 
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
 def memory_limit() -> int:
     """Get the memory limit (in bytes) for this system.
 
@@ -21,6 +25,7 @@ def memory_limit() -> int:
     # Check cgroups if available
     # Note: can't use LINUX and WINDOWS constants as they upset mypy
     if sys.platform == "linux":
+        path_used = None
         for path in [
             "/sys/fs/cgroup/memory/memory.limit_in_bytes",  # cgroups v1 hard limit
             "/sys/fs/cgroup/memory/memory.soft_limit_in_bytes",  # cgroups v1 soft limit
@@ -31,9 +36,15 @@ def memory_limit() -> int:
                 with open(path) as f:
                     cgroups_limit = int(f.read())
                 if cgroups_limit > 0:
+                    path_used = path
                     limit = min(limit, cgroups_limit)
             except Exception:
                 pass
+        if path_used:
+            logger.debug(
+                "Setting system memory limit based on cgroup value defined in %s",
+                path_used,
+            )
 
     # Check rlimit if available
     if sys.platform != "win32":
@@ -41,8 +52,11 @@ def memory_limit() -> int:
             import resource
 
             hard_limit = resource.getrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_RSS)[1]
-            if hard_limit > 0:
-                limit = min(limit, hard_limit)
+            if 0 < hard_limit < limit:
+                logger.debug(
+                    "Limiting system memory based on RLIMIT_RSS to %s", hard_limit
+                )
+                limit = hard_limit
         except (ImportError, OSError):
             pass
 
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_worker.py b/distributed/tests/test_worker.py
index b6b04c9969e..9b6314a3d74 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_worker.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_worker.py
@@ -3721,3 +3721,21 @@ async def test_deprecation_of_renamed_worker_attributes(s, a, b):
     )
     with pytest.warns(DeprecationWarning, match=msg):
         assert a.outgoing_current_count == a.transfer_outgoing_count
+
+
+@gen_cluster(nthreads=[])
+async def test_worker_log_memory_limit_too_high(s):
+    with captured_logger("distributed.worker_memory") as caplog:
+        # caplog.set_level(logging.WARN, logger="distributed.worker")
+        async with Worker(s.address, memory_limit="1PB"):
+            pass
+
+        expected_snippets = [
+            ("ignore", "ignoring"),
+            ("memory limit", "memory_limit"),
+            ("system"),
+            ("1PB"),
+        ]
+        for snippets in expected_snippets:
+            # assert any(snip in caplog.text for snip in snippets)
+            assert any(snip in caplog.getvalue().lower() for snip in snippets)
diff --git a/distributed/worker_memory.py b/distributed/worker_memory.py
index a5516f32019..4a67d751c77 100644
--- a/distributed/worker_memory.py
+++ b/distributed/worker_memory.py
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ def parse_memory_limit(
 ) -> int | None:
     if memory_limit is None:
         return None
-
+    orig = memory_limit
     if memory_limit == "auto":
         memory_limit = int(system.MEMORY_LIMIT * min(1, nthreads / total_cores))
     with suppress(ValueError, TypeError):
@@ -401,7 +401,15 @@ def parse_memory_limit(
     assert isinstance(memory_limit, int)
     if memory_limit == 0:
         return None
-    return min(memory_limit, system.MEMORY_LIMIT)
+    if system.MEMORY_LIMIT < memory_limit:
+        logger.warning(
+            "Ignoring provided memory limit %s due to system memory limit of %s",
+            orig,
+            format_bytes(system.MEMORY_LIMIT),
+        )
+        return system.MEMORY_LIMIT
+    else:
+        return memory_limit
 
 
 def _parse_threshold(