diff --git a/pkg/server/container_execsync.go b/pkg/server/container_execsync.go
index 6116ee523..2358b9941 100644
--- a/pkg/server/container_execsync.go
+++ b/pkg/server/container_execsync.go
@@ -164,16 +164,15 @@ func (c *criService) execInContainer(ctx context.Context, id string, opts execOp
 		},
 	})
 
-	var timeoutCh <-chan time.Time
-	if opts.timeout == 0 {
-		// Do not set timeout if it's 0.
-		timeoutCh = make(chan time.Time)
-	} else {
-		timeoutCh = time.After(opts.timeout)
+	execCtx := ctx
+	if opts.timeout > 0 {
+		var execCtxCancel context.CancelFunc
+		execCtx, execCtxCancel = context.WithTimeout(ctx, opts.timeout)
+		defer execCtxCancel()
 	}
+
 	select {
-	case <-timeoutCh:
-		//TODO(Abhi) Use context.WithDeadline instead of timeout.
+	case <-execCtx.Done():
 		// Ignore the not found error because the process may exit itself before killing.
 		if err := process.Kill(ctx, syscall.SIGKILL); err != nil && !errdefs.IsNotFound(err) {
 			return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to kill exec %q", execID)
@@ -184,7 +183,7 @@ func (c *criService) execInContainer(ctx context.Context, id string, opts execOp
 			execID, exitRes.ExitCode(), exitRes.Error())
 		<-attachDone
 		logrus.Debugf("Stream pipe for exec process %q done", execID)
-		return nil, errors.Errorf("timeout %v exceeded", opts.timeout)
+		return nil, errors.Wrapf(execCtx.Err(), "timeout %v exceeded", opts.timeout)
 	case exitRes := <-exitCh:
 		code, _, err := exitRes.Result()
 		logrus.Infof("Exec process %q exits with exit code %d and error %v", execID, code, err)