diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-prestart b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-prestart
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..ea23d6d7237
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-prestart
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# This script is intended to be run before we start Docker.
+
+# cleanup docker network checkpoint to avoid running into known issue
+# of docker (https://github.com/docker/docker/issues/18283)
+rm -rf /var/lib/docker/network
+
diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker.service b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker.service
index 23a7453b249..a5e02c9f6e5 100644
--- a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker.service
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker.service
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ LimitCORE=infinity
 Restart=always
 RestartSec=2s
 StartLimitInterval=0
+ExecStartPre=/opt/kubernetes/helpers/docker-prestart
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/init.sls b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/init.sls
index 86a8ea19962..2de683a42a0 100644
--- a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/init.sls
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/init.sls
@@ -51,6 +51,13 @@ docker:
 
 {% if pillar.get('is_systemd') %}
 
+/opt/kubernetes/helpers/docker-prestart:
+  file.managed:
+    - source: salt://docker/docker-prestart
+    - user: root
+    - group: root
+    - mode: 755
+
 {{ pillar.get('systemd_system_path') }}/docker.service:
   file.managed:
     - source: salt://docker/docker.service
@@ -60,6 +67,8 @@ docker:
     - mode: 644
     - defaults:
         environment_file: {{ environment_file }}
+    - require:
+      - file: /opt/kubernetes/helpers/docker-prestart
 
 # The docker service.running block below doesn't work reliably
 # Instead we run our script which e.g. does a systemd daemon-reload
@@ -292,9 +301,16 @@ docker-upgrade:
       - file: /var/cache/docker-install/{{ override_deb }}
 {% endif %} # end override_docker_ver != ''
 
-# Default docker systemd unit file doesn't use an EnvironmentFile; replace it with one that does.
 {% if pillar.get('is_systemd') %}
 
+/opt/kubernetes/helpers/docker-prestart:
+  file.managed:
+    - source: salt://docker/docker-prestart
+    - user: root
+    - group: root
+    - mode: 755
+
+# Default docker systemd unit file doesn't use an EnvironmentFile; replace it with one that does.
 {{ pillar.get('systemd_system_path') }}/docker.service:
   file.managed:
     - source: salt://docker/docker.service
@@ -304,6 +320,8 @@ docker-upgrade:
     - mode: 644
     - defaults:
         environment_file: {{ environment_file }}
+    - require:
+      - file: /opt/kubernetes/helpers/docker-prestart
 
 # The docker service.running block below doesn't work reliably
 # Instead we run our script which e.g. does a systemd daemon-reload