diff --git a/systemtest/tls_test.go b/systemtest/tls_test.go
index b32f2bfd69a..17a89bf2072 100644
--- a/systemtest/tls_test.go
+++ b/systemtest/tls_test.go
@@ -94,7 +94,11 @@ func TestTLSClientAuth(t *testing.T) {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	err := attemptRequest(t, &tls.Config{InsecureSkipVerify: true})
+	err := attemptRequest(t, &tls.Config{
+		InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+		// TODO remove this and update the error message once we bump to go 1.21
+		MaxVersion: tls.VersionTLS12,
+	})
 	require.Error(t, err)
 	assert.Regexp(t, "tls: bad certificate", err.Error())
 	logs := srv.Logs.Iterator()