diff --git a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-log-check b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-log-check
index eb0b84ac4..e3768da46 100755
--- a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-log-check
+++ b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-log-check
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ done
 # Look for OOM specific errors in /var/log/messages which can lead to odd behavior / test failures
 if [[ -f /var/log/messages ]]; then
     status "Checking log file /var/log/messages"
-    if cat /var/log/messages | grep -iE 'out of memory|oom-kill'; then
+    if journalctl --since "24 hours ago" | grep -iE 'out of memory|oom-kill'; then
         RESULT=1
     fi
 fi