diff --git a/src/listener.c b/src/listener.c
index 1e1a83284..b9467e94e 100644
--- a/src/listener.c
+++ b/src/listener.c
@@ -965,16 +965,6 @@ void listener_accept(struct listener *l)
 
 		_HA_ATOMIC_INC(&activity[tid].accepted);
 
-		if (unlikely(cli_conn->handle.fd >= global.maxsock)) {
-			send_log(p, LOG_EMERG,
-				 "Proxy %s reached the configured maximum connection limit. Please check the global 'maxconn' value.\n",
-				 p->id);
-			close(cli_conn->handle.fd);
-			conn_free(cli_conn);
-			expire = tick_add(now_ms, 1000); /* try again in 1 second */
-			goto limit_global;
-		}
-
 		/* past this point, l->accept() will automatically decrement
 		 * l->nbconn, feconn and actconn once done. Setting next_*conn=0
 		 * allows the error path not to rollback on nbconn. It's more
diff --git a/src/sock.c b/src/sock.c
index f6ab83f55..ae825fc02 100644
--- a/src/sock.c
+++ b/src/sock.c
@@ -103,6 +103,14 @@ struct connection *sock_accept_conn(struct listener *l, int *status)
 	}
 
 	if (likely(cfd != -1)) {
+		if (unlikely(cfd >= global.maxsock)) {
+			close(cfd);
+			send_log(p, LOG_EMERG,
+				 "Proxy %s reached the configured maximum connection limit. Please check the global 'maxconn' value.\n",
+				 p->id);
+			goto fail_conn;
+		}
+
 		/* Perfect, the connection was accepted */
 		conn = conn_new(&l->obj_type);
 		if (!conn)