diff --git a/src/app-layer.c b/src/app-layer.c
index 9cf276f235..bd1942e127 100644
--- a/src/app-layer.c
+++ b/src/app-layer.c
@@ -403,7 +403,9 @@ static int TCPProtoDetect(ThreadVars *tv,
         /* if protocol detection indicated that we need to reverse
          * the direction of the flow, do it now. We flip the flow,
          * packet and the direction flags */
-        if (reverse_flow && (ssn->flags & STREAMTCP_FLAG_MIDSTREAM)) {
+        if (reverse_flow &&
+                ((ssn->flags & (STREAMTCP_FLAG_MIDSTREAM | STREAMTCP_FLAG_MIDSTREAM_SYNACK)) ==
+                        STREAMTCP_FLAG_MIDSTREAM)) {
             /* but only if we didn't already detect it on the other side. */
             if (*alproto_otherdir == ALPROTO_UNKNOWN) {
                 SCLogDebug("reversing flow after proto detect told us so");