diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/redhat-common/finalise.d/01-clean-old-kernels b/diskimage_builder/elements/redhat-common/finalise.d/01-clean-old-kernels
index 5d8393f2..23d8619e 100755
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/redhat-common/finalise.d/01-clean-old-kernels
+++ b/diskimage_builder/elements/redhat-common/finalise.d/01-clean-old-kernels
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ if [[ ${YUM} == "dnf" ]]; then
     #  http://dnf.readthedocs.org/en/latest/cli_vs_yum.html
     _old_kernels="$(dnf repoquery --installonly --latest-limit=-1 -q)"
     if [[ -n "${_old_kernels}" ]]; then
-        dnf remove -y ${_old_kernels}
+        rpm -e ${_old_kernels}
     fi
 else
     install-packages yum-utils
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-dnf-clean-old-kernels-use-rpm-to-erase-in-case-running-kernel-0401f78d63daca77.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-dnf-clean-old-kernels-use-rpm-to-erase-in-case-running-kernel-0401f78d63daca77.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..970eeadf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-dnf-clean-old-kernels-use-rpm-to-erase-in-case-running-kernel-0401f78d63daca77.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixed an issue where cleaning old kernels on systems runing ``dnf`` would
+    fail in case the kernel packages being removed matches the running kernel
+    of the system building the image. See Bug: `1623409
+    <https://bugs.launchpad.net/diskimage-builder/+bug/1623409>`_.
+