diff --git a/src/detect-engine-threshold.c b/src/detect-engine-threshold.c
index 18f75fe672..efd9513897 100644
--- a/src/detect-engine-threshold.c
+++ b/src/detect-engine-threshold.c
@@ -171,7 +171,10 @@ static DetectThresholdEntry* ThresholdTimeoutCheck(DetectThresholdEntry *head, s
     DetectThresholdEntry *new_head = head;
 
     while (tmp != NULL) {
-        if ((tv->tv_sec - tmp->tv_sec1) <= tmp->seconds) {
+        /* check if the 'check' timestamp is not before the creation ts.
+         * This can happen due to the async nature of the host timeout
+         * code that also calls this code from a management thread. */
+        if (((uint32_t)tv->tv_sec < tmp->tv_sec1) || (tv->tv_sec - tmp->tv_sec1) <= tmp->seconds) {
             prev = tmp;
             tmp = tmp->next;
             continue;