diff --git a/libcontainer/userns/userns.go b/libcontainer/userns/userns.go
index f6cb98e5e49..b225f18f2e2 100644
--- a/libcontainer/userns/userns.go
+++ b/libcontainer/userns/userns.go
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 package userns
 
 // RunningInUserNS detects whether we are currently running in a user namespace.
-// Originally copied from github.com/lxc/lxd/shared/util.go
 var RunningInUserNS = runningInUserNS
diff --git a/libcontainer/userns/userns_fuzzer.go b/libcontainer/userns/userns_fuzzer.go
index 1e00ab8b505..bff03f8d859 100644
--- a/libcontainer/userns/userns_fuzzer.go
+++ b/libcontainer/userns/userns_fuzzer.go
@@ -3,14 +3,7 @@
 
 package userns
 
-import (
-	"strings"
-
-	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/user"
-)
-
-func FuzzUIDMap(data []byte) int {
-	uidmap, _ := user.ParseIDMap(strings.NewReader(string(data)))
-	_ = uidMapInUserNS(uidmap)
+func FuzzUIDMap(uidmap []byte) int {
+	_ = uidMapInUserNS(string(uidmap))
 	return 1
 }
diff --git a/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux.go b/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux.go
index 724e6df0120..a6710b321be 100644
--- a/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux.go
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 package userns
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"sync"
-
-	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/user"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -12,26 +13,43 @@ var (
 )
 
 // runningInUserNS detects whether we are currently running in a user namespace.
-// Originally copied from github.com/lxc/lxd/shared/util.go
+//
+// Originally copied from https://github.com/lxc/incus/blob/e45085dd42f826b3c8c3228e9733c0b6f998eafe/shared/util.go#L678-L700.
 func runningInUserNS() bool {
 	nsOnce.Do(func() {
-		uidmap, err := user.CurrentProcessUIDMap()
+		file, err := os.Open("/proc/self/uid_map")
+		if err != nil {
+			// This kernel-provided file only exists if user namespaces are supported.
+			return
+		}
+		defer file.Close()
+
+		buf := bufio.NewReader(file)
+		l, _, err := buf.ReadLine()
 		if err != nil {
-			// This kernel-provided file only exists if user namespaces are supported
 			return
 		}
-		inUserNS = uidMapInUserNS(uidmap)
+
+		inUserNS = uidMapInUserNS(string(l))
 	})
 	return inUserNS
 }
 
-func uidMapInUserNS(uidmap []user.IDMap) bool {
-	/*
-	 * We assume we are in the initial user namespace if we have a full
-	 * range - 4294967295 uids starting at uid 0.
-	 */
-	if len(uidmap) == 1 && uidmap[0].ID == 0 && uidmap[0].ParentID == 0 && uidmap[0].Count == 4294967295 {
+func uidMapInUserNS(uidMap string) bool {
+	if uidMap == "" {
+		// File exist but empty (the initial state when userns is created,
+		// see user_namespaces(7)).
+		return true
+	}
+
+	var a, b, c int64
+	if _, err := fmt.Sscanf(uidMap, "%d %d %d", &a, &b, &c); err != nil {
+		// Assume we are in a regular, non user namespace.
 		return false
 	}
-	return true
+
+	// As per user_namespaces(7), /proc/self/uid_map of
+	// the initial user namespace shows 0 0 4294967295.
+	initNS := a == 0 && b == 0 && c == 4294967295
+	return !initNS
 }
diff --git a/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux_test.go b/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux_test.go
index 90d9270db6f..25c4ac301de 100644
--- a/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux_test.go
+++ b/libcontainer/userns/userns_linux_test.go
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
 package userns
 
-import (
-	"strings"
-	"testing"
-
-	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/user"
-)
+import "testing"
 
 func TestUIDMapInUserNS(t *testing.T) {
 	cases := []struct {
@@ -31,11 +26,7 @@ func TestUIDMapInUserNS(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 	}
 	for _, c := range cases {
-		uidmap, err := user.ParseIDMap(strings.NewReader(c.s))
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatal(err)
-		}
-		actual := uidMapInUserNS(uidmap)
+		actual := uidMapInUserNS(c.s)
 		if c.expected != actual {
 			t.Fatalf("expected %v, got %v for %q", c.expected, actual, c.s)
 		}
diff --git a/libcontainer/userns/userns_unsupported.go b/libcontainer/userns/userns_unsupported.go
index f35c13a10e0..391c811c680 100644
--- a/libcontainer/userns/userns_unsupported.go
+++ b/libcontainer/userns/userns_unsupported.go
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 
 package userns
 
-import "github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/user"
-
 // runningInUserNS is a stub for non-Linux systems
 // Always returns false
 func runningInUserNS() bool {
@@ -13,6 +11,6 @@ func runningInUserNS() bool {
 
 // uidMapInUserNS is a stub for non-Linux systems
 // Always returns false
-func uidMapInUserNS(uidmap []user.IDMap) bool {
+func uidMapInUserNS(uidMap string) bool {
 	return false
 }