diff --git a/container/libcontainer/helpers.go b/container/libcontainer/helpers.go
index da25bf07..b51477ee 100644
--- a/container/libcontainer/helpers.go
+++ b/container/libcontainer/helpers.go
@@ -33,6 +33,11 @@ import (
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/cgroups"
 )
 
+/*
+#include <unistd.h>
+*/
+import "C"
+
 type CgroupSubsystems struct {
 	// Cgroup subsystem mounts.
 	// e.g.: "/sys/fs/cgroup/cpu" -> ["cpu", "cpuacct"]
@@ -433,15 +438,40 @@ func DiskStatsCopy(blkio_stats []cgroups.BlkioStatEntry) (stat []info.PerDiskSta
 	return DiskStatsCopy1(disk_stat)
 }
 
+func minUint32(x, y uint32) uint32 {
+	if x < y {
+		return x
+	}
+	return y
+}
+
+// var to allow unit tests to stub it out
+var numCpusFunc = getNumberOnlineCPUs
+
 // Convert libcontainer stats to info.ContainerStats.
 func setCpuStats(s *cgroups.Stats, ret *info.ContainerStats) {
 	ret.Cpu.Usage.User = s.CpuStats.CpuUsage.UsageInUsermode
 	ret.Cpu.Usage.System = s.CpuStats.CpuUsage.UsageInKernelmode
-	n := len(s.CpuStats.CpuUsage.PercpuUsage)
-	ret.Cpu.Usage.PerCpu = make([]uint64, n)
+	numPossible := uint32(len(s.CpuStats.CpuUsage.PercpuUsage))
+	// Note that as of https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/8607101/ (kernel v4.7),
+	// the percpu usage information includes extra zero values for all additional
+	// possible CPUs. This is to allow statistic collection after CPU-hotplug.
+	// We intentionally ignore these extra zeroes.
+	numActual, err := numCpusFunc()
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Errorf("unable to determine number of actual cpus; defaulting to maximum possible number: errno %v", err)
+		numActual = numPossible
+	}
+	if numActual > numPossible {
+		// The real number of cores should never be greater than the number of
+		// datapoints reported in cpu usage.
+		glog.Errorf("PercpuUsage had %v cpus, but the actual number is %v; ignoring extra CPUs", numPossible, numActual)
+	}
+	numActual = minUint32(numPossible, numActual)
+	ret.Cpu.Usage.PerCpu = make([]uint64, numActual)
 
 	ret.Cpu.Usage.Total = 0
-	for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
+	for i := uint32(0); i < numActual; i++ {
 		ret.Cpu.Usage.PerCpu[i] = s.CpuStats.CpuUsage.PercpuUsage[i]
 		ret.Cpu.Usage.Total += s.CpuStats.CpuUsage.PercpuUsage[i]
 	}
@@ -451,6 +481,21 @@ func setCpuStats(s *cgroups.Stats, ret *info.ContainerStats) {
 	ret.Cpu.CFS.ThrottledTime = s.CpuStats.ThrottlingData.ThrottledTime
 }
 
+// Copied from
+// https://github.com/moby/moby/blob/8b1adf55c2af329a4334f21d9444d6a169000c81/daemon/stats/collector_unix.go#L73
+// Apache 2.0, Copyright Docker, Inc.
+func getNumberOnlineCPUs() (uint32, error) {
+	i, err := C.sysconf(C._SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN)
+	// According to POSIX - errno is undefined after successful
+	// sysconf, and can be non-zero in several cases, so look for
+	// error in returned value not in errno.
+	// (https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=21536)
+	if i == -1 {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return uint32(i), nil
+}
+
 func setDiskIoStats(s *cgroups.Stats, ret *info.ContainerStats) {
 	ret.DiskIo.IoServiceBytes = DiskStatsCopy(s.BlkioStats.IoServiceBytesRecursive)
 	ret.DiskIo.IoServiced = DiskStatsCopy(s.BlkioStats.IoServicedRecursive)
diff --git a/container/libcontainer/helpers_test.go b/container/libcontainer/helpers_test.go
index c491e287..662fd89c 100644
--- a/container/libcontainer/helpers_test.go
+++ b/container/libcontainer/helpers_test.go
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	info "github.com/google/cadvisor/info/v1"
+	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/cgroups"
+	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/system"
 )
 
 func TestScanInterfaceStats(t *testing.T) {
@@ -86,3 +88,49 @@ func TestScanUDPStats(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("Expected %#v, got %#v", udpstats, stats)
 	}
 }
+
+// https://github.com/docker/libcontainer/blob/v2.2.1/cgroups/fs/cpuacct.go#L19
+const nanosecondsInSeconds = 1000000000
+
+var clockTicks = uint64(system.GetClockTicks())
+
+func TestMorePossibleCPUs(t *testing.T) {
+	realNumCPUs := uint32(8)
+	numCpusFunc = func() (uint32, error) {
+		return realNumCPUs, nil
+	}
+	possibleCPUs := uint32(31)
+
+	perCpuUsage := make([]uint64, possibleCPUs)
+	for i := uint32(0); i < realNumCPUs; i++ {
+		perCpuUsage[i] = 8562955455524
+	}
+
+	s := &cgroups.Stats{
+		CpuStats: cgroups.CpuStats{
+			CpuUsage: cgroups.CpuUsage{
+				PercpuUsage:       perCpuUsage,
+				TotalUsage:        33802947350272,
+				UsageInKernelmode: 734746 * nanosecondsInSeconds / clockTicks,
+				UsageInUsermode:   2767637 * nanosecondsInSeconds / clockTicks,
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	var ret info.ContainerStats
+	setCpuStats(s, &ret)
+
+	expected := info.ContainerStats{
+		Cpu: info.CpuStats{
+			Usage: info.CpuUsage{
+				PerCpu: perCpuUsage[0:realNumCPUs],
+				User:   s.CpuStats.CpuUsage.UsageInUsermode,
+				System: s.CpuStats.CpuUsage.UsageInKernelmode,
+				Total:  8562955455524 * uint64(realNumCPUs),
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	if !ret.Eq(&expected) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected %+v == %+v", ret, expected)
+	}
+}