diff --git a/pkg/proxy/iptables/proxier.go b/pkg/proxy/iptables/proxier.go
index 3ff3c77ef70..0855096c1b1 100644
--- a/pkg/proxy/iptables/proxier.go
+++ b/pkg/proxy/iptables/proxier.go
@@ -264,9 +264,12 @@ func NewProxier(ipt utiliptables.Interface,
 	healthzServer healthcheck.ProxierHealthUpdater,
 	nodePortAddresses []string,
 ) (*Proxier, error) {
-	// Set the route_localnet sysctl we need for
-	if err := utilproxy.EnsureSysctl(sysctl, sysctlRouteLocalnet, 1); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+	if utilproxy.ContainsIPv4Loopback(nodePortAddresses) {
+		// Set the route_localnet sysctl we need for exposing NodePorts on loopback addresses
+		klog.InfoS("Setting route_localnet=1, use nodePortAddresses to filter loopback addresses for NodePorts to skip it https://issues.k8s.io/90259")
+		if err := utilproxy.EnsureSysctl(sysctl, sysctlRouteLocalnet, 1); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Proxy needs br_netfilter and bridge-nf-call-iptables=1 when containers
diff --git a/pkg/proxy/util/utils.go b/pkg/proxy/util/utils.go
index 88ae712f901..f20fc194307 100644
--- a/pkg/proxy/util/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/proxy/util/utils.go
@@ -78,6 +78,37 @@ func BuildPortsToEndpointsMap(endpoints *v1.Endpoints) map[string][]string {
 	return portsToEndpoints
 }
 
+// ContainsIPv4Loopback returns true if the input is empty or one of the CIDR contains an IPv4 loopback address.
+func ContainsIPv4Loopback(cidrStrings []string) bool {
+	if len(cidrStrings) == 0 {
+		return true
+	}
+	// RFC 5735 127.0.0.0/8 - This block is assigned for use as the Internet host loopback address
+	ipv4LoopbackStart := netutils.ParseIPSloppy("127.0.0.0")
+	for _, cidr := range cidrStrings {
+		if IsZeroCIDR(cidr) {
+			return true
+		}
+
+		ip, ipnet, err := netutils.ParseCIDRSloppy(cidr)
+		if err != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if netutils.IsIPv6CIDR(ipnet) {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if ip.IsLoopback() {
+			return true
+		}
+		if ipnet.Contains(ipv4LoopbackStart) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 // IsZeroCIDR checks whether the input CIDR string is either
 // the IPv4 or IPv6 zero CIDR
 func IsZeroCIDR(cidr string) bool {
diff --git a/pkg/proxy/util/utils_test.go b/pkg/proxy/util/utils_test.go
index fb6fb8e5ae1..4b0c83e1a87 100644
--- a/pkg/proxy/util/utils_test.go
+++ b/pkg/proxy/util/utils_test.go
@@ -1401,3 +1401,68 @@ func TestAddressSet(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestContainsIPv4Loopback(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name        string
+		cidrStrings []string
+		want        bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "empty",
+			want: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "all zeros ipv4",
+			cidrStrings: []string{"224.0.0.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "fd00:1:d::/64", "0.0.0.0/0"},
+			want:        true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "all zeros ipv4 and invalid cidr",
+			cidrStrings: []string{"invalid.cidr", "192.168.0.0/16", "fd00:1:d::/64", "0.0.0.0/0"},
+			want:        true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "all zeros ipv6", // interpret all zeros equal for IPv4 and IPv6 as Golang stdlib
+			cidrStrings: []string{"224.0.0.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "fd00:1:d::/64", "::/0"},
+			want:        true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "ipv4 loopback",
+			cidrStrings: []string{"224.0.0.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "fd00:1:d::/64", "127.0.0.0/8"},
+			want:        true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "ipv6 loopback",
+			cidrStrings: []string{"224.0.0.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "fd00:1:d::/64", "::1/128"},
+			want:        false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "ipv4 loopback smaller range",
+			cidrStrings: []string{"224.0.0.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "fd00:1:d::/64", "127.0.2.0/28"},
+			want:        true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "ipv4 loopback within larger range",
+			cidrStrings: []string{"224.0.0.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "fd00:1:d::/64", "64.0.0.0/2"},
+			want:        true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "non loop loopback",
+			cidrStrings: []string{"128.0.2.0/28", "224.0.0.0/24", "192.168.0.0/16", "fd00:1:d::/64"},
+			want:        false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "invalid cidr",
+			cidrStrings: []string{"invalid.ip/invalid.mask"},
+			want:        false,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			if got := ContainsIPv4Loopback(tt.cidrStrings); got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("ContainLoopback() = %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}