diff --git a/tests/unix/ConnectionFailTest.cc b/tests/unix/ConnectionFailTest.cc
index a05e6a39..11ac3849 100644
--- a/tests/unix/ConnectionFailTest.cc
+++ b/tests/unix/ConnectionFailTest.cc
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ class ConnectionFailTest : public ::testing::TestWithParam<int> {
         struct rlimit limit;
         ASSERT_EQ(getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit), 0);
         maxFdCount_ = limit.rlim_max;
+        // The previous test leaves the soft fd limit lowered, which could make the HTTP request below fail
+        // to open a socket. Restore it before creating the topic.
+        limit.rlim_cur = limit.rlim_max;
+        ASSERT_EQ(setrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit), 0);
         int numPartitions = GetParam();
         topic_ = "test-connection-fail-" + std::to_string(numPartitions) + std::to_string(time(nullptr));
         if (numPartitions > 0) {