diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 707c0864..4cbcf442 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ NEWS
   * restart (some) syscalls after SIGCHLD interrupted them; should fix LDAP problems (fixes #2464)
   * [core] log remote address on request timeouts (fixes #652)
   * [autobuild] use AC_CANONICAL_HOST instead of AC_CANONICAL_TARGET (fixes #1866)
+  * [core] fix request_start in keep-alive requests to mark time when received first byte (fixes #2412)
 
 - 1.4.39 - 2016-01-02
   * [core] fix memset_s call (fixes #2698)
diff --git a/src/connections.c b/src/connections.c
index f01d6988..3e70e0d7 100644
--- a/src/connections.c
+++ b/src/connections.c
@@ -891,6 +891,8 @@ static int connection_handle_read_state(server *srv, connection *con)  {
 	chunkqueue *cq = con->read_queue;
 	chunkqueue *dst_cq = con->request_content_queue;
 	int is_closed = 0; /* the connection got closed, if we don't have a complete header, -> error */
+	/* when in CON_STATE_READ: about to receive first byte for a request: */
+	int is_request_start = chunkqueue_is_empty(cq);
 
 	if (con->is_readable) {
 		con->read_idle_ts = srv->cur_ts;
@@ -913,6 +915,10 @@ static int connection_handle_read_state(server *srv, connection *con)  {
 
 	switch(ostate) {
 	case CON_STATE_READ:
+	/* update request_start timestamp when first byte of
+	 * next request is received on a keep-alive connection */
+	if (con->request_count > 1 && is_request_start) con->request_start = srv->cur_ts;
+
 		/* if there is a \r\n\r\n in the chunkqueue
 		 *
 		 * scan the chunk-queue twice