diff --git a/pkg/network/ebpf/c/tracer/events.h b/pkg/network/ebpf/c/tracer/events.h
index 6ed2f932e4a85..71e8b42d06cd5 100644
--- a/pkg/network/ebpf/c/tracer/events.h
+++ b/pkg/network/ebpf/c/tracer/events.h
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ static __always_inline void cleanup_conn(void *ctx, conn_tuple_t *tup, struct so
         // we don't have any stats for the connection,
         // so cookie is not set, set it here
         conn.conn_stats.cookie = get_sk_cookie(sk);
+        // make sure direction is set correctly
+        determine_connection_direction(&conn.tup, &conn.conn_stats);
     }
 
     conn.conn_stats.timestamp = bpf_ktime_get_ns();
diff --git a/pkg/network/ebpf/c/tracer/stats.h b/pkg/network/ebpf/c/tracer/stats.h
index 992cf85355f98..3fb663daefd23 100644
--- a/pkg/network/ebpf/c/tracer/stats.h
+++ b/pkg/network/ebpf/c/tracer/stats.h
@@ -84,6 +84,23 @@ static __always_inline void update_protocol_classification_information(conn_tupl
     merge_protocol_stacks(&stats->protocol_stack, protocol_stack);
 }
 
+static __always_inline void determine_connection_direction(conn_tuple_t *t, conn_stats_ts_t *conn_stats) {
+    if (conn_stats->direction != CONN_DIRECTION_UNKNOWN) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    u32 *port_count = NULL;
+    port_binding_t pb = {};
+    pb.port = t->sport;
+    pb.netns = t->netns;
+    if (t->metadata & CONN_TYPE_TCP) {
+        port_count = bpf_map_lookup_elem(&port_bindings, &pb);
+    } else {
+        port_count = bpf_map_lookup_elem(&udp_port_bindings, &pb);
+    }
+    conn_stats->direction = (port_count != NULL && *port_count > 0) ? CONN_DIRECTION_INCOMING : CONN_DIRECTION_OUTGOING;
+}
+
 // update_conn_stats update the connection metadata : protocol, tags, timestamp, direction, packets, bytes sent and received
 static __always_inline void update_conn_stats(conn_tuple_t *t, size_t sent_bytes, size_t recv_bytes, u64 ts, conn_direction_t dir,
     __u32 packets_out, __u32 packets_in, packet_count_increment_t segs_type, struct sock *sk) {
@@ -121,17 +138,8 @@ static __always_inline void update_conn_stats(conn_tuple_t *t, size_t sent_bytes
 
     if (dir != CONN_DIRECTION_UNKNOWN) {
         val->direction = dir;
-    } else if (val->direction == CONN_DIRECTION_UNKNOWN) {
-        u32 *port_count = NULL;
-        port_binding_t pb = {};
-        pb.port = t->sport;
-        pb.netns = t->netns;
-        if (t->metadata & CONN_TYPE_TCP) {
-            port_count = bpf_map_lookup_elem(&port_bindings, &pb);
-        } else {
-            port_count = bpf_map_lookup_elem(&udp_port_bindings, &pb);
-        }
-        val->direction = (port_count != NULL && *port_count > 0) ? CONN_DIRECTION_INCOMING : CONN_DIRECTION_OUTGOING;
+    } else {
+        determine_connection_direction(t, val);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/network/tracer/tracer_linux_test.go b/pkg/network/tracer/tracer_linux_test.go
index 3ddaf05e00eb3..571e15abe5a45 100644
--- a/pkg/network/tracer/tracer_linux_test.go
+++ b/pkg/network/tracer/tracer_linux_test.go
@@ -1788,6 +1788,46 @@ func (s *TracerSuite) TestPreexistingConnectionDirection() {
 	assert.Equal(t, network.INCOMING, incoming.Direction)
 }
 
+func (s *TracerSuite) TestPreexistingEmptyIncomingConnectionDirection() {
+	t := s.T()
+	// Start the client and server before we enable the system probe to test that the tracer picks
+	// up the pre-existing connection
+
+	ch := make(chan struct{})
+	server := NewTCPServer(func(c net.Conn) {
+		<-ch
+		c.Close()
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, server.Run())
+	t.Cleanup(server.Shutdown)
+
+	c, err := net.DialTimeout("tcp", server.address, 5*time.Second)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	// Enable BPF-based system probe
+	tr := setupTracer(t, testConfig())
+
+	// close the server connection so the tracer picks it up
+	close(ch)
+
+	var conn *network.ConnectionStats
+	require.Eventually(t, func() bool {
+		conns := getConnections(t, tr)
+		t.Log(conns) // for debugging failures
+		conn, _ = findConnection(c.RemoteAddr(), c.LocalAddr(), conns)
+		return conn != nil
+	}, 3*time.Second, 100*time.Millisecond)
+
+	m := conn.Monotonic
+	assert.Zero(t, m.SentBytes, "sent bytes should be 0")
+	assert.Zero(t, m.RecvBytes, "recv bytes should be 0")
+	assert.Zero(t, m.SentPackets, "sent packets should be 0")
+	assert.Zero(t, m.RecvPackets, "recv packets should be 0")
+	assert.Zero(t, m.TCPEstablished, "tcp established should be 0")
+	assert.Equal(t, uint32(1), m.TCPClosed, "tcp closed should be 1")
+	assert.Equal(t, network.INCOMING, conn.Direction, "connection direction should be incoming")
+}
+
 func (s *TracerSuite) TestUDPIncomingDirectionFix() {
 	t := s.T()