diff --git a/src/core/mainloop/connection.c b/src/core/mainloop/connection.c
index 7204b69e54..5a769f38be 100644
--- a/src/core/mainloop/connection.c
+++ b/src/core/mainloop/connection.c
@@ -187,7 +187,6 @@ static int connection_reached_eof(connection_t *conn);
 static int connection_buf_read_from_socket(connection_t *conn,
                                            ssize_t *max_to_read,
                                            int *socket_error);
-static int connection_process_inbuf(connection_t *conn, int package_partial);
 static void client_check_address_changed(tor_socket_t sock);
 static void set_constrained_socket_buffers(tor_socket_t sock, int size);
 
@@ -3744,9 +3743,16 @@ void
 connection_read_bw_exhausted(connection_t *conn, bool is_global_bw)
 {
   (void)is_global_bw;
-  conn->read_blocked_on_bw = 1;
-  connection_stop_reading(conn);
-  reenable_blocked_connection_schedule();
+  // Double-calls to stop-reading are correlated with stalling for
+  // ssh uploads. Might as well prevent this from happening,
+  // especially the read_blocked_on_bw flag. That was clearly getting
+  // set when it should not be, during an already-blocked XOFF
+  // condition.
+  if (!CONN_IS_EDGE(conn) || !TO_EDGE_CONN(conn)->xoff_received) {
+    conn->read_blocked_on_bw = 1;
+    connection_stop_reading(conn);
+    reenable_blocked_connection_schedule();
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -3923,10 +3929,17 @@ reenable_blocked_connections_cb(mainloop_event_t *ev, void *arg)
   (void)ev;
   (void)arg;
   SMARTLIST_FOREACH_BEGIN(get_connection_array(), connection_t *, conn) {
-    if (conn->read_blocked_on_bw == 1) {
+    /* For conflux, we noticed logs of connection_start_reading() called
+     * multiple times while we were blocked from a previous XOFF, and this
+     * was log was correlated with stalls during ssh uploads. So we added
+     * this additional check, to avoid connection_start_reading() without
+     * getting an XON. The most important piece is always allowing
+     * the read_blocked_on_bw to get cleared, either way. */
+    if (conn->read_blocked_on_bw == 1 &&
+        (!CONN_IS_EDGE(conn) || !TO_EDGE_CONN(conn)->xoff_received)) {
       connection_start_reading(conn);
-      conn->read_blocked_on_bw = 0;
     }
+    conn->read_blocked_on_bw = 0;
     if (conn->write_blocked_on_bw == 1) {
       connection_start_writing(conn);
       conn->write_blocked_on_bw = 0;
@@ -5198,7 +5211,7 @@ set_constrained_socket_buffers(tor_socket_t sock, int size)
  * connection_*_process_inbuf() function. It also passes in
  * package_partial if wanted.
  */
-static int
+int
 connection_process_inbuf(connection_t *conn, int package_partial)
 {
   tor_assert(conn);
diff --git a/src/core/mainloop/connection.h b/src/core/mainloop/connection.h
index 8b378b15a4..88bf47a497 100644
--- a/src/core/mainloop/connection.h
+++ b/src/core/mainloop/connection.h
@@ -256,6 +256,7 @@ int connection_wants_to_flush(struct connection_t *conn);
 int connection_outbuf_too_full(struct connection_t *conn);
 int connection_handle_write(struct connection_t *conn, int force);
 int connection_flush(struct connection_t *conn);
+int connection_process_inbuf(struct connection_t *conn, int package_partial);
 
 MOCK_DECL(void, connection_write_to_buf_impl_,
           (const char *string, size_t len, struct connection_t *conn,
diff --git a/src/core/mainloop/mainloop.c b/src/core/mainloop/mainloop.c
index e1c9786b2e..3702f3a74e 100644
--- a/src/core/mainloop/mainloop.c
+++ b/src/core/mainloop/mainloop.c
@@ -645,6 +645,16 @@ connection_start_reading,(connection_t *conn))
                "to watched: %s",
                (int)conn->s,
                tor_socket_strerror(tor_socket_errno(conn->s)));
+
+    /* Process the inbuf if it is not empty because the only way to empty it is
+     * through a read event or a SENDME which might not come if the package
+     * window is proper or if the application has nothing more for us to read.
+     *
+     * If this is not done here, we risk having data lingering in the inbuf
+     * forever. */
+    if (conn->inbuf && buf_datalen(conn->inbuf) > 0) {
+      connection_process_inbuf(conn, 1);
+    }
   }
 }