diff --git a/include/haproxy/listener-t.h b/include/haproxy/listener-t.h
index 1fe25f59d..d9a32e09a 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/listener-t.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/listener-t.h
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ struct li_per_thread {
 struct listener {
 	enum obj_type obj_type;         /* object type = OBJ_TYPE_LISTENER */
 	enum li_state state;            /* state: NEW, INIT, ASSIGNED, LISTEN, READY, FULL */
-	/* 2-byte hole here */
+	uint16_t flags;                 /* listener flags: LI_F_* */
 	int luid;			/* listener universally unique ID, used for SNMP */
 	int nbconn;			/* current number of connections on this listener */
 	unsigned int thr_idx;           /* thread indexes for queue distribution : (t2<<16)+t1 */
@@ -251,6 +251,9 @@ struct listener {
 	EXTRA_COUNTERS(extra_counters);
 };
 
+/* listener flags (16 bits) */
+#define LI_F_FINALIZED           0x0001  /* listener made it to the READY||LIMITED||FULL state at least once, may be suspended/resumed safely */
+
 /* Descriptor for a "bind" keyword. The ->parse() function returns 0 in case of
  * success, or a combination of ERR_* flags if an error is encountered. The
  * function pointer can be NULL if not implemented. The function also has an
diff --git a/src/listener.c b/src/listener.c
index 08dd5ecad..25b22e13c 100644
--- a/src/listener.c
+++ b/src/listener.c
@@ -288,6 +288,7 @@ void listener_set_state(struct listener *l, enum li_state st)
 		case LI_LIMITED:
 			BUG_ON(l->rx.fd == -1);
 			_HA_ATOMIC_INC(&px->li_ready);
+			l->flags |= LI_F_FINALIZED;
 			break;
 		}
 	}
@@ -477,7 +478,7 @@ int pause_listener(struct listener *l, int lpx, int lli)
 	if (!lli)
 		HA_RWLOCK_WRLOCK(LISTENER_LOCK, &l->lock);
 
-	if (l->state <= LI_PAUSED)
+	if (!(l->flags & LI_F_FINALIZED) || l->state <= LI_PAUSED)
 		goto end;
 
 	if (l->rx.proto->suspend)
@@ -535,7 +536,7 @@ int resume_listener(struct listener *l, int lpx, int lli)
 	if (MT_LIST_INLIST(&l->wait_queue))
 		goto end;
 
-	if (l->state == LI_READY)
+	if (!(l->flags & LI_F_FINALIZED) || l->state == LI_READY)
 		goto end;
 
 	if (l->rx.proto->resume)