diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d8f0532..7a18e77 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ Line wrap the file at 100 chars.                                              Th
 
 
 ## [Unreleased]
+### Changed
+- Use cool down period if TCP accept fails. This avoids excessive CPU usage e.g. when there are no
+  free file descriptors available to be allocated.
 
 
 ## [0.3.0] - 2023-02-28
diff --git a/src/exponential_backoff.rs b/src/exponential_backoff.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9de4f29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/exponential_backoff.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+use std::cmp;
+use std::time::Duration;
+
+/// Simple exponential backoff
+pub struct ExponentialBackoff {
+    start_delay: Duration,
+    max_delay: Duration,
+    current_delay: Duration,
+}
+
+impl ExponentialBackoff {
+    /// Creates a new exponential backoff instance starting with delay
+    /// `start_delay` and maxing out at `max_delay`.
+    pub fn new(start_delay: Duration, max_delay: Duration) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            start_delay,
+            max_delay,
+            current_delay: start_delay,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Resets the exponential backoff so that the next delay is the start delay again.
+    pub fn reset(&mut self) {
+        self.current_delay = self.start_delay;
+    }
+
+    /// Returns the next delay. This is twice as long as the last returned delay,
+    /// up until `max_delay` is reached.
+    pub fn next_delay(&mut self) -> Duration {
+        let delay = self.current_delay;
+
+        let next_delay = self.current_delay * 2;
+        self.current_delay = cmp::min(next_delay, self.max_delay);
+
+        delay
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index ad39936..141424b 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ pub use udp2tcp::Udp2Tcp;
 mod forward_traffic;
 mod logging;
 mod tcp_options;
+mod exponential_backoff;
 
 pub use tcp_options::{ApplyTcpOptionsError, TcpOptions};
 
diff --git a/src/tcp2udp.rs b/src/tcp2udp.rs
index b158c67..161e41f 100644
--- a/src/tcp2udp.rs
+++ b/src/tcp2udp.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 //! to UDP.
 
 use crate::logging::Redact;
+use crate::exponential_backoff::ExponentialBackoff;
 use err_context::{BoxedErrorExt as _, ErrorExt as _, ResultExt as _};
 use std::convert::Infallible;
 use std::fmt;
@@ -9,6 +10,7 @@ use std::io;
 use std::net::{IpAddr, SocketAddr};
 use std::time::Duration;
 use tokio::net::{TcpListener, TcpSocket, TcpStream, UdpSocket};
+use tokio::time::sleep;
 
 #[derive(Debug)]
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "clap", derive(clap::Parser))]
@@ -149,6 +151,8 @@ async fn process_tcp_listener(
     tcp_recv_timeout: Option<Duration>,
     tcp_nodelay: bool,
 ) -> ! {
+    let mut cooldown =
+        ExponentialBackoff::new(Duration::from_millis(50), Duration::from_millis(5000));
     loop {
         match tcp_listener.accept().await {
             Ok((tcp_stream, tcp_peer_addr)) => {
@@ -169,8 +173,17 @@ async fn process_tcp_listener(
                         log::error!("Error: {}", error.display("\nCaused by: "));
                     }
                 });
+                cooldown.reset();
+            }
+            Err(error) => {
+                log::error!("Error when accepting incoming TCP connection: {}", error);
+
+                // If the process runs out of file descriptors, it will fail to accept a socket.
+                // But that socket will also remain in the queue, so it will fail again immediately.
+                // This will busy loop consuming the CPU and filling any logs. To prevent this,
+                // delay between failed socket accept operations.
+                sleep(cooldown.next_delay()).await;
             }
-            Err(error) => log::error!("Error when accepting incoming TCP connection: {}", error),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -215,3 +228,5 @@ async fn process_socket(
 
     Ok(())
 }
+
+