diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
index 9e9507f125a2..d071ed6b8b9a 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
@@ -197,8 +197,13 @@ static bool retransmits_timed_out(struct sock *sk,
 		return false;
 
 	start_ts = tcp_sk(sk)->retrans_stamp;
-	if (likely(timeout == 0))
-		timeout = tcp_model_timeout(sk, boundary, TCP_RTO_MIN);
+	if (likely(timeout == 0)) {
+		unsigned int rto_base = TCP_RTO_MIN;
+
+		if ((1 << sk->sk_state) & (TCPF_SYN_SENT | TCPF_SYN_RECV))
+			rto_base = tcp_timeout_init(sk);
+		timeout = tcp_model_timeout(sk, boundary, rto_base);
+	}
 
 	return (s32)(tcp_time_stamp(tcp_sk(sk)) - start_ts - timeout) >= 0;
 }