diff --git a/src/ray/util/BUILD.bazel b/src/ray/util/BUILD.bazel
index d143c6210964..21871d3cc52a 100644
--- a/src/ray/util/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/src/ray/util/BUILD.bazel
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ ray_cc_library(
         ":thread_utils",
         "@com_github_spdlog//:spdlog",
         "@com_google_absl//absl/debugging:failure_signal_handler",
+        "@com_google_absl//absl/log:globals",
         "@com_google_absl//absl/strings:str_format",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest_prod",
     ],
diff --git a/src/ray/util/logging.cc b/src/ray/util/logging.cc
index 0b4c4155a5f6..d081b122f4f4 100644
--- a/src/ray/util/logging.cc
+++ b/src/ray/util/logging.cc
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include <iostream>
 #include <limits>
 #include <memory>
+#include <mutex>
 #include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <string_view>
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@
 #include "absl/debugging/failure_signal_handler.h"
 #include "absl/debugging/stacktrace.h"
 #include "absl/debugging/symbolize.h"
+#include "absl/log/globals.h"
 #include "absl/strings/numbers.h"
 #include "absl/strings/str_format.h"
 #include "ray/util/thread_utils.h"
@@ -345,12 +347,32 @@ void RayLog::InitLogFormat() {
   return 1;
 }
 
+namespace {
+
+// gRPC >= 1.65 logs through absl. When GRPC_VERBOSITY is unset it leaves absl's
+// minimum log level alone, and absl defaults to INFO, so gRPC INFO messages (e.g.
+// "Got goaway") end up on stderr and are forwarded to the driver. Older gRPC
+// defaulted to ERROR; keep that unless the user asks for more with
+// GRPC_VERBOSITY. Ray's own logging goes through spdlog and is unaffected.
+void InitAbslLogging() {
+  static std::once_flag once;
+  std::call_once(once, [] {
+    const char *grpc_verbosity = std::getenv("GRPC_VERBOSITY");
+    if (grpc_verbosity == nullptr || grpc_verbosity[0] == '\0') {
+      absl::SetMinLogLevel(absl::LogSeverityAtLeast::kError);
+    }
+  });
+}
+
+}  // namespace
+
 /*static*/ void RayLog::StartRayLog(const std::string &app_name,
                                     RayLogLevel severity_threshold,
                                     const std::string &log_filepath,
                                     const std::string &err_log_filepath,
                                     size_t log_rotation_max_size,
                                     size_t log_rotation_file_num) {
+  InitAbslLogging();
   InitSeverityThreshold(severity_threshold);
   InitLogFormat();
 
diff --git a/src/ray/util/tests/BUILD.bazel b/src/ray/util/tests/BUILD.bazel
index 26e5ac576aff..0ae015a584fe 100644
--- a/src/ray/util/tests/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/src/ray/util/tests/BUILD.bazel
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ ray_cc_test(
         "//src/ray/util:path_utils",
         "//src/ray/util:time",
         "@boost//:asio",
+        "@com_google_absl//absl/log:globals",
         "@com_google_absl//absl/strings:str_format",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest_main",
         "@nlohmann_json",
diff --git a/src/ray/util/tests/logging_test.cc b/src/ray/util/tests/logging_test.cc
index 2ec25ab49717..b31d44921643 100644
--- a/src/ray/util/tests/logging_test.cc
+++ b/src/ray/util/tests/logging_test.cc
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 
+#include "absl/log/globals.h"
 #include "absl/strings/str_format.h"
 #include "absl/strings/str_split.h"
 #include "gtest/gtest.h"
@@ -189,6 +190,15 @@ TEST(PrintLogTest, TestRayLogEveryMs) {
   EXPECT_LT(occurrences, 15);
 }
 
+// gRPC logs through absl; without GRPC_VERBOSITY its INFO messages would reach
+// stderr. StartRayLog keeps absl at ERROR, as older gRPC did.
+TEST(PrintLogTest, TestAbslMinLogLevelDefaultsToError) {
+  ASSERT_EQ(std::getenv("GRPC_VERBOSITY"), nullptr);
+  RayLog::StartRayLog("/tmp/gcs", RayLogLevel::INFO, /*log_filepath=*/"");
+  EXPECT_EQ(absl::MinLogLevel(), absl::LogSeverityAtLeast::kError);
+  RayLog::ShutDownRayLog();
+}
+
 TEST(PrintLogTest, TestTextLogging) {
   SetEnv("RAY_BACKEND_LOG_JSON", "0");
   RayLog::StartRayLog("/tmp/gcs", RayLogLevel::INFO, /*log_filepath=*/"");