diff --git a/pkg/network/tracer/connection/ebpfless/tcp_processor.go b/pkg/network/tracer/connection/ebpfless/tcp_processor.go
index c071971f78f1f..c83a5430b96f1 100644
--- a/pkg/network/tracer/connection/ebpfless/tcp_processor.go
+++ b/pkg/network/tracer/connection/ebpfless/tcp_processor.go
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ type TCPProcessor struct {
 }
 
 // TODO make this into a config value
-const maxPendingConns = 1024
+const maxPendingConns = 4096
 
 // NewTCPProcessor constructs an empty TCPProcessor
 func NewTCPProcessor(cfg *config.Config) *TCPProcessor {
diff --git a/pkg/network/tracer/connection/ebpfless_tracer.go b/pkg/network/tracer/connection/ebpfless_tracer.go
index bd9c60ea43aa2..88c744239fd39 100644
--- a/pkg/network/tracer/connection/ebpfless_tracer.go
+++ b/pkg/network/tracer/connection/ebpfless_tracer.go
@@ -242,9 +242,11 @@ func (t *ebpfLessTracer) processConnection(
 	case ebpfless.ProcessResultStoreConn:
 		maxTrackedConns := int(t.config.MaxTrackedConnections)
 		ok := ebpfless.WriteMapWithSizeLimit(t.conns, conn.ConnectionTuple, conn, maxTrackedConns)
-		// we don't have enough space to add this connection, remove its TCP state tracking
-		if !ok && conn.Type == network.TCP {
-			t.tcp.RemoveConn(conn.ConnectionTuple)
+		if !ok {
+			// we don't have enough space to add this connection, remove its TCP state tracking
+			if conn.Type == network.TCP {
+				t.tcp.RemoveConn(conn.ConnectionTuple)
+			}
 			ebpfLessTracerTelemetry.droppedConnections.Inc()
 		}
 	case ebpfless.ProcessResultCloseConn: