diff --git a/src/cluster_legacy.c b/src/cluster_legacy.c
index 0777d6d8c6..bf5d314908 100644
--- a/src/cluster_legacy.c
+++ b/src/cluster_legacy.c
@@ -3245,6 +3245,17 @@ int clusterProcessPacket(clusterLink *link) {
         if (type == CLUSTERMSG_TYPE_MEET) {
             if (!sender) {
                 if (!link->node) {
+                    char ip[NET_IP_STR_LEN] = {0};
+                    if (nodeIp2String(ip, link, hdr->myip) != C_OK) {
+                        /* Unable to retrieve the node's IP address from the connection. Without a
+                         * valid IP, the node becomes unusable in the cluster. This failure might be
+                         * due to the connection being closed. */
+                        serverLog(LL_NOTICE, "Closing link even though we received a MEET packet on it, "
+                                             "because the connection has an error");
+                        freeClusterLink(link);
+                        return 0;
+                    }
+
                     /* Add this node if it is new for us and the msg type is MEET.
                      * In this stage we don't try to add the node with the right
                      * flags, replicaof pointer, and so forth, as this details will be
@@ -3253,14 +3264,7 @@ int clusterProcessPacket(clusterLink *link) {
                      * we want to send extensions right away in the return PONG in order
                      * to reduce the amount of time needed to stabilize the shard ID. */
                     clusterNode *node = createClusterNode(NULL, CLUSTER_NODE_HANDSHAKE);
-                    if (nodeIp2String(node->ip, link, hdr->myip) != C_OK) {
-                        /* We cannot get the IP info from the link, it probably means the connection is closed. */
-                        serverLog(LL_NOTICE, "Closing link even though we received a MEET packet on it, "
-                                             "because the connection has an error");
-                        freeClusterLink(link);
-                        freeClusterNode(node);
-                        return 0;
-                    }
+                    memcpy(node->ip, ip, sizeof(ip));
                     getClientPortFromClusterMsg(hdr, &node->tls_port, &node->tcp_port);
                     node->cport = ntohs(hdr->cport);
                     if (hdr->mflags[0] & CLUSTERMSG_FLAG0_EXT_DATA) {