diff --git a/src/server/browserType.ts b/src/server/browserType.ts
index db6ed75572916..005607432694b 100644
--- a/src/server/browserType.ts
+++ b/src/server/browserType.ts
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ export abstract class BrowserType {
     const controller = new ProgressController();
     controller.setLogName('browser');
     const browser = await controller.run(progress => {
-      return this._innerLaunch(progress, options, undefined, helper.debugProtocolLogger(protocolLogger)).catch(e => { throw this._rewriteStartupError(e); });
+      return this._innerLaunchWithRetries(progress, options, undefined, helper.debugProtocolLogger(protocolLogger)).catch(e => { throw this._rewriteStartupError(e); });
     }, TimeoutSettings.timeout(options));
     return browser;
   }
@@ -77,11 +77,25 @@ export abstract class BrowserType {
     const controller = new ProgressController();
     controller.setLogName('browser');
     const browser = await controller.run(progress => {
-      return this._innerLaunch(progress, options, persistent, helper.debugProtocolLogger(), userDataDir).catch(e => { throw this._rewriteStartupError(e); });
+      return this._innerLaunchWithRetries(progress, options, persistent, helper.debugProtocolLogger(), userDataDir).catch(e => { throw this._rewriteStartupError(e); });
     }, TimeoutSettings.timeout(options));
     return browser._defaultContext!;
   }
 
+  async _innerLaunchWithRetries(progress: Progress, options: types.LaunchOptions, persistent: types.BrowserContextOptions | undefined, protocolLogger: types.ProtocolLogger, userDataDir?: string): Promise<Browser> {
+    try {
+      return this._innerLaunch(progress, options, persistent, protocolLogger, userDataDir);
+    } catch (error) {
+      // @see https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/5214
+      const errorMessage = typeof error === 'object' && typeof error.message === 'string' ? error.message : '';
+      if (errorMessage.includes('Inconsistency detected by ld.so')) {
+        progress.log(`<restarting browser due to hitting race condition in glibc>`);
+        return this._innerLaunch(progress, options, persistent, protocolLogger, userDataDir);
+      }
+      throw error;
+    }
+  }
+
   async _innerLaunch(progress: Progress, options: types.LaunchOptions, persistent: types.BrowserContextOptions | undefined, protocolLogger: types.ProtocolLogger, userDataDir?: string): Promise<Browser> {
     options.proxy = options.proxy ? normalizeProxySettings(options.proxy) : undefined;
     const browserLogsCollector = new RecentLogsCollector();