diff --git a/src/lib_shell/chain_validator.ml b/src/lib_shell/chain_validator.ml
index bfd8c36b0344f5c35d28f1f076bf54ceed89f425..6f8ece6a9010df9d8b722993cc571eb968defbcf 100644
--- a/src/lib_shell/chain_validator.ml
+++ b/src/lib_shell/chain_validator.ml
@@ -613,6 +613,15 @@ let on_disconnection w peer_id =
       let*! pv in
       match pv with
       | Ok pv ->
+          (* Shutting down the peer validator will indirectly trigger
+             a disconnection. However, the disconnection can be
+             effective only after the peer validator is shutdown (see
+             {!val:Peer_validator.on_close}). This is a defensive
+             mechanism so that if the disconnection takes too much
+             time (even though it is not supposed to happen), the
+             validation is not stuck. In any case, the peer validator
+             is removed from the active peers (see
+             {!val:with_activated_peer_validator}). *)
           let*! () = Peer_validator.shutdown pv in
           return_unit)
 
diff --git a/src/lib_shell/peer_validator.ml b/src/lib_shell/peer_validator.ml
index 82f1d6e03ee145611f06bb04b7797c601bcb9042..1a20e287a39a20376ca8b8bfffba00e9f1d09242 100644
--- a/src/lib_shell/peer_validator.ml
+++ b/src/lib_shell/peer_validator.ml
@@ -451,9 +451,17 @@ let on_error (type a b) w st (request : (a, b) Request.t) (err : b) :
   | New_branch _ -> on_error_trace err
 
 let on_close w =
-  let open Lwt_syntax in
   let pv = Worker.state w in
-  let* () = Distributed_db.disconnect pv.parameters.chain_db pv.peer_id in
+  (* We request the the P2P layer to disconnect from this peer, but we
+     do not wait for the disconnection to be effective (the underlying
+     socket is closed). This is because the P2P layer does not offer
+     the guarantee that the disconnection will be quick.
+
+     This is not a problem, and allows the reconnection with this peer
+     using a different socket. *)
+  let (_ : unit Lwt.t) =
+    Distributed_db.disconnect pv.parameters.chain_db pv.peer_id
+  in
   pv.parameters.notify_termination () ;
   Lwt.return_unit