diff --git a/src/cluster_legacy.c b/src/cluster_legacy.c
index 6ea8eb2e67..50a8ffca38 100644
--- a/src/cluster_legacy.c
+++ b/src/cluster_legacy.c
@@ -3149,7 +3149,8 @@ int clusterProcessPacket(clusterLink *link) {
             sender->configEpoch = sender_claimed_config_epoch;
             clusterDoBeforeSleep(CLUSTER_TODO_SAVE_CONFIG | CLUSTER_TODO_FSYNC_CONFIG);
 
-            if (server.cluster->failover_auth_time && sender->configEpoch >= server.cluster->failover_auth_epoch) {
+            if (server.cluster->failover_auth_time && server.cluster->failover_auth_sent &&
+                sender->configEpoch >= server.cluster->failover_auth_epoch) {
                 /* Another node has claimed an epoch greater than or equal to ours.
                  * If we have an ongoing election, reset it because we cannot win
                  * with an epoch smaller than or equal to the incoming claim. This
diff --git a/tests/unit/cluster/failover2.tcl b/tests/unit/cluster/failover2.tcl
index 21c4f4a678..9262049e4e 100644
--- a/tests/unit/cluster/failover2.tcl
+++ b/tests/unit/cluster/failover2.tcl
@@ -86,6 +86,11 @@ start_cluster 7 3 {tags {external:skip cluster} overrides {cluster-ping-interval
             fail "No failover detected"
         }
 
+        # Make sure there is no false epoch 0.
+        verify_no_log_message -7 "*Failover election in progress for epoch 0*" 0
+        verify_no_log_message -8 "*Failover election in progress for epoch 0*" 0
+        verify_no_log_message -9 "*Failover election in progress for epoch 0*" 0
+
         # Make sure there is no failover timeout.
         verify_no_log_message -7 "*Failover attempt expired*" 0
         verify_no_log_message -8 "*Failover attempt expired*" 0