diff --git a/containers/container.go b/containers/container.go
index 3ad9ede8..e9e0eb6c 100644
--- a/containers/container.go
+++ b/containers/container.go
@@ -569,22 +569,22 @@ func (c *Container) Collect(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
 func (c *Container) onProcessStart(pid uint32) *Process {
 	c.lock.Lock()
 	defer c.lock.Unlock()
-	stats, err := TaskstatsPID(pid)
-	if err != nil {
+	startedAt := proc.GetStartTime(pid)
+	if startedAt.IsZero() {
 		return nil
 	}
 	if p := c.processes[pid]; p != nil {
 		// Already registered for this same process: a connection can be
 		// handled before the process start event (see attachTlsUprobes).
 		// Replacing it would drop its uprobes without closing them.
-		if p.StartedAt.Equal(stats.BeginTime) {
+		if p.StartedAt.Equal(startedAt) {
 			return p
 		}
 		// The pid was reused: the previous process exited unnoticed.
 		c.closeProcess(pid, p)
 	}
 	c.zombieAt = time.Time{}
-	p := NewProcess(pid, stats, c.registry.tracer)
+	p := NewProcess(pid, startedAt, c.registry.tracer)
 
 	if p == nil {
 		return nil
@@ -592,9 +592,9 @@ func (c *Container) onProcessStart(pid uint32) *Process {
 	c.processes[pid] = p
 
 	if c.startedAt.IsZero() {
-		c.startedAt = stats.BeginTime
+		c.startedAt = startedAt
 	} else {
-		min := stats.BeginTime
+		min := startedAt
 		for _, p := range c.processes {
 			if p.StartedAt.Before(min) {
 				min = p.StartedAt
diff --git a/containers/process.go b/containers/process.go
index e3437b0b..824736df 100644
--- a/containers/process.go
+++ b/containers/process.go
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/coroot/coroot-node-agent/gpu"
 	"github.com/coroot/coroot-node-agent/proc"
 	"github.com/jpillora/backoff"
-	"github.com/mdlayher/taskstats"
 )
 
 type GpuUsage struct {
@@ -66,8 +65,8 @@ type Process struct {
 	nodejsChecked    bool
 }
 
-func NewProcess(pid uint32, stats *taskstats.Stats, tracer *ebpftracer.Tracer) *Process {
-	p := &Process{Pid: pid, StartedAt: stats.BeginTime}
+func NewProcess(pid uint32, startedAt time.Time, tracer *ebpftracer.Tracer) *Process {
+	p := &Process{Pid: pid, StartedAt: startedAt}
 	p.Flags, _ = proc.GetFlags(pid)
 	p.ctx, p.cancelFunc = context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	go p.instrument(tracer)
diff --git a/containers/taskstats.go b/containers/taskstats.go
index 25a645fe..3ea9dff4 100644
--- a/containers/taskstats.go
+++ b/containers/taskstats.go
@@ -33,16 +33,3 @@ func TaskstatsTGID(pid uint32) (*taskstats.Stats, error) {
 	}
 	return s, nil
 }
-
-func TaskstatsPID(pid uint32) (*taskstats.Stats, error) {
-	if taskstatsClient == nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("taskstats client not initialized")
-	}
-	taskstatsLock.Lock()
-	defer taskstatsLock.Unlock()
-	s, err := taskstatsClient.PID(int(pid))
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return s, nil
-}
diff --git a/proc/fixtures/123/stat b/proc/fixtures/123/stat
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2b95a181
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proc/fixtures/123/stat
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+123 (my (odd) proc) S 1 4242 4242 0 -1 4194560 100 0 0 0 5 3 0 0 20 0 1 0 12345 1000000 200 18446744073709551615 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
diff --git a/proc/proc.go b/proc/proc.go
index c51348b9..df00a6b4 100644
--- a/proc/proc.go
+++ b/proc/proc.go
@@ -8,11 +8,28 @@ import (
 	"path"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/coroot/coroot-node-agent/cgroup"
 )
 
-var root = "/proc"
+var (
+	root     = "/proc"
+	bootTime int64
+)
+
+func init() {
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(root + "/stat")
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(string(data), "\n") {
+		if fields := strings.Fields(line); len(fields) == 2 && fields[0] == "btime" {
+			bootTime, _ = strconv.ParseInt(fields[1], 10, 64)
+			return
+		}
+	}
+}
 
 func Path(pid uint32, subpath ...string) string {
 	return path.Join(append([]string{root, strconv.Itoa(int(pid))}, subpath...)...)
@@ -64,6 +81,27 @@ func ReadCgroup(pid uint32) (*cgroup.Cgroup, error) {
 	return cgroup.NewFromProcessCgroupFile(Path(pid, "cgroup"))
 }
 
+func GetStartTime(pid uint32) time.Time {
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(Path(pid, "stat"))
+	if err != nil {
+		return time.Time{}
+	}
+	s := string(data)
+	idx := strings.LastIndex(s, ")")
+	if idx < 0 {
+		return time.Time{}
+	}
+	fields := strings.Fields(s[idx+1:])
+	if len(fields) < 20 {
+		return time.Time{}
+	}
+	startTicks, err := strconv.ParseUint(fields[19], 10, 64)
+	if err != nil || bootTime == 0 {
+		return time.Time{}
+	}
+	return time.Unix(bootTime+int64(float64(startTicks)/100), 0)
+}
+
 func ListPids() ([]uint32, error) {
 	root, err := os.Open(root)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/proc/start_time_test.go b/proc/start_time_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b5be80e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proc/start_time_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package proc
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestGetStartTime(t *testing.T) {
+	saved := bootTime
+	defer func() { bootTime = saved }()
+	bootTime = 1700000000
+
+	// starttime is field 22 of /proc/<pid>/stat, in clock ticks since boot:
+	// 12345 ticks = 123.45s. The comm contains spaces and ')', so fields
+	// must be counted from the last ')'.
+	assert.Equal(t, time.Unix(1700000000+123, 0), GetStartTime(123))
+
+	assert.True(t, GetStartTime(999999).IsZero(), "missing pid")
+
+	bootTime = 0
+	assert.True(t, GetStartTime(123).IsZero(), "unknown boot time")
+}