diff --git a/test/e2e/common_test.go b/test/e2e/common_test.go
index 2c36c43e08..d19306c533 100644
--- a/test/e2e/common_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/common_test.go
@@ -1410,6 +1410,9 @@ func WaitForService(address url.URL) {
 // This needs to be called for all test they may remove networks from other tests,
 // so netwokr prune, system prune, or system reset.
 // see https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/17946
+// Note that when using this and running containers with custom networks you must use the
+// ginkgo Serial decorator to ensure no parallel test are running otherwise we get flakes,
+// https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/23876
 func useCustomNetworkDir(podmanTest *PodmanTestIntegration, tempdir string) {
 	// set custom network directory to prevent flakes since the dir is shared with all tests by default
 	podmanTest.NetworkConfigDir = tempdir
diff --git a/test/e2e/network_test.go b/test/e2e/network_test.go
index 450ceba71e..08813a85ce 100644
--- a/test/e2e/network_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/network_test.go
@@ -695,7 +695,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Podman network", func() {
 		Expect(listAgain.OutputToStringArray()).Should(ContainElement("podman"))
 	})
 
-	It("podman network prune", func() {
+	It("podman network prune", Serial, func() {
 		useCustomNetworkDir(podmanTest, tempdir)
 		// Create two networks
 		// Check they are there