diff --git a/bgpd/bgp_fsm.c b/bgpd/bgp_fsm.c
index b0d2a8fe0e..786e953843 100644
--- a/bgpd/bgp_fsm.c
+++ b/bgpd/bgp_fsm.c
@@ -2137,6 +2137,7 @@ bgp_establish(struct peer_connection *connection)
 	struct peer *other;
 	int status;
 	struct peer *peer = connection->peer;
+	struct peer *orig = peer;
 
 	other = peer->doppelganger;
 	hash_release(peer->bgp->peerhash, peer);
@@ -2146,6 +2147,17 @@ bgp_establish(struct peer_connection *connection)
 	peer = peer_xfer_conn(peer);
 	if (!peer) {
 		flog_err(EC_BGP_CONNECT, "%%Neighbor failed in xfer_conn");
+
+		/*
+		 * A failure of peer_xfer_conn but not putting the peers
+		 * back in the hash ends up with a situation where incoming
+		 * connections are rejected, as that the peer is not found
+		 * when a lookup is done
+		 */
+		(void)hash_get(orig->bgp->peerhash, orig, hash_alloc_intern);
+		if (other)
+			(void)hash_get(other->bgp->peerhash, other,
+				       hash_alloc_intern);
 		return BGP_FSM_FAILURE;
 	}