diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/math/sage/sage-tests.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/math/sage/sage-tests.nix
index 591fa192d56..0cd5b5d976a 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/math/sage/sage-tests.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/math/sage/sage-tests.nix
@@ -51,6 +51,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     export HOME="$TMPDIR/sage-home"
     mkdir -p "$HOME"
 
+    # avoid running out of memory with many threads in subprocesses, see
+    # https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/65802
+    export GLIBC_TUNABLES=glibc.malloc.arena_max=4
+
     echo "Running sage tests with arguments ${timeSpecifier} ${patienceSpecifier} ${testArgs}"
     "sage" -t --nthreads "$NIX_BUILD_CORES" --optional=sage ${timeSpecifier} ${patienceSpecifier} ${testArgs}
   '';