diff --git a/appsec/tests/extension/req_abort_in_req_init_auto_flush.inc b/appsec/tests/extension/req_abort_in_req_init_auto_flush.inc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6e0c450472
--- /dev/null
+++ b/appsec/tests/extension/req_abort_in_req_init_auto_flush.inc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+THIS SHOULD NOT BE REACHED
diff --git a/appsec/tests/extension/req_abort_in_req_init_auto_flush.phpt b/appsec/tests/extension/req_abort_in_req_init_auto_flush.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fe7cc3667e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/appsec/tests/extension/req_abort_in_req_init_auto_flush.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+--TEST--
+Request aborted in request init still sends its trace with auto-flush enabled
+--DESCRIPTION--
+When a request is blocked during request startup, the tracer closes all spans
+and force-flushes them before the request is aborted. Closing the root span
+used to trigger the regular auto-flush, which drops traces while PHP is still
+in request startup, so the forced flush that followed found nothing to send.
+This test runs a php-cgi child that is blocked in request init, with
+auto-flush disabled and enabled, and checks that a mock agent receives the
+trace of the blocked request in both cases.
+--SKIPIF--
+<?php
+require __DIR__ . "/inc/no_valgrind.php";
+$cgi = getenv('TEST_PHP_CGI_EXECUTABLE');
+if (!$cgi || !is_executable($cgi)) {
+    die('skip php-cgi is not available');
+}
+?>
+--ENV--
+DD_TRACE_ENABLED=0
+--FILE--
+<?php
+
+const SERVICE = 'appsec_startup_block_svc';
+
+function read_http_request($conn) {
+    stream_set_timeout($conn, 5);
+    $head = '';
+    while (strpos($head, "\r\n\r\n") === false) {
+        $chunk = fread($conn, 8192);
+        if ($chunk === '' || $chunk === false) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        $head .= $chunk;
+    }
+    list($headers, $body) = explode("\r\n\r\n", $head, 2);
+    if (stripos($headers, "Transfer-Encoding: chunked") !== false) {
+        // We only need to know that the body is complete; the raw chunked
+        // encoding is good enough to look for the service name.
+        while (substr($body, -5) !== "0\r\n\r\n") {
+            $chunk = fread($conn, 8192);
+            if ($chunk === '' || $chunk === false) {
+                break;
+            }
+            $body .= $chunk;
+        }
+    } elseif (preg_match('/Content-Length:\s*(\d+)/i', $headers, $m)) {
+        while (strlen($body) < (int)$m[1]) {
+            $chunk = fread($conn, 8192);
+            if ($chunk === '' || $chunk === false) {
+                break;
+            }
+            $body .= $chunk;
+        }
+    }
+    $line = strtok($headers, "\r\n");
+    return [$line, $body];
+}
+
+function run_blocked_request($auto_flush) {
+    $server = stream_socket_server('tcp://127.0.0.1:0', $errno, $errstr);
+    if (!$server) {
+        die("could not start mock agent: $errstr\n");
+    }
+    $port = parse_url('tcp://' . stream_socket_get_name($server, false), PHP_URL_PORT);
+
+    $script = __DIR__ . '/req_abort_in_req_init_auto_flush.inc';
+    $env = array_merge(getenv(), [
+        'DD_TRACE_ENABLED' => '1',
+        'DD_TRACE_GENERATE_ROOT_SPAN' => '1',
+        'DD_TRACE_AUTO_FLUSH_ENABLED' => $auto_flush ? '1' : '0',
+        'DD_TRACE_AGENT_URL' => "http://127.0.0.1:$port",
+        'DD_SERVICE' => SERVICE,
+        'REDIRECT_STATUS' => '1',
+        'GATEWAY_INTERFACE' => 'CGI/1.1',
+        'REQUEST_METHOD' => 'GET',
+        'SCRIPT_FILENAME' => $script,
+        'PATH_TRANSLATED' => $script,
+        'REQUEST_URI' => '/blocked',
+        'QUERY_STRING' => '',
+    ]);
+
+    $cmd = [
+        getenv('TEST_PHP_CGI_EXECUTABLE'),
+        '-n',
+        '-c', php_ini_loaded_file(),
+        '-d', 'extension_dir=' . ini_get('extension_dir'),
+        '-d', 'extension=ddtrace.so',
+        '-d', 'datadog.appsec.enabled=1',
+        '-d', 'datadog.appsec.testing_abort_rinit=1',
+        '-d', 'display_errors=0',
+        '-d', 'log_errors=0',
+    ];
+    $cmdline = implode(' ', array_map('escapeshellarg', $cmd));
+
+    $proc = proc_open($cmdline, [
+        0 => ['file', '/dev/null', 'r'],
+        1 => ['pipe', 'w'],
+        2 => ['pipe', 'w'],
+    ], $pipes, null, $env);
+    if (!is_resource($proc)) {
+        die("could not start php-cgi\n");
+    }
+
+    $requests = [];
+    $exited_at = null;
+    while (true) {
+        $read = [$server];
+        $w = $e = null;
+        if (stream_select($read, $w, $e, 0, 100000) > 0) {
+            $conn = stream_socket_accept($server, 1);
+            if ($conn) {
+                $req = read_http_request($conn);
+                if ($req !== null) {
+                    $requests[] = $req;
+                }
+                fwrite($conn, "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nContent-Type: application/json\r\n"
+                    . "Content-Length: 2\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n{}");
+                fclose($conn);
+            }
+            continue;
+        }
+        $status = proc_get_status($proc);
+        if (!$status['running']) {
+            // keep serving a little longer in case a send is still in flight
+            if ($exited_at === null) {
+                $exited_at = microtime(true);
+            } elseif (microtime(true) - $exited_at > 0.5) {
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    $stdout = stream_get_contents($pipes[1]);
+    stream_get_contents($pipes[2]);
+    fclose($pipes[1]);
+    fclose($pipes[2]);
+    proc_close($proc);
+    fclose($server);
+
+    $blocked = strpos($stdout, '403 Forbidden') !== false
+        && strpos($stdout, 'THIS SHOULD NOT BE REACHED') === false;
+
+    $trace_sent = false;
+    foreach ($requests as list($line, $body)) {
+        if (strpos($line, '/traces') !== false && strpos($body, SERVICE) !== false) {
+            $trace_sent = true;
+        }
+    }
+
+    echo 'auto-flush ', $auto_flush ? 'on' : 'off', ': ',
+        'blocked: ', $blocked ? 'yes' : 'no', ', ',
+        'trace sent: ', $trace_sent ? 'yes' : 'no', "\n";
+}
+
+run_blocked_request(false);
+run_blocked_request(true);
+
+?>
+--EXPECT--
+auto-flush off: blocked: yes, trace sent: yes
+auto-flush on: blocked: yes, trace sent: yes
diff --git a/tracer/auto_flush.c b/tracer/auto_flush.c
index 7d722b6f04..20928a3013 100644
--- a/tracer/auto_flush.c
+++ b/tracer/auto_flush.c
@@ -116,6 +116,19 @@ zend_result ddtrace_flush_tracer(bool force_on_startup, bool collect_cycles, boo
 
 void ddtrace_close_all_spans_and_flush()
 {
-    ddtrace_close_all_open_spans(true);
+    // Closing the root span normally triggers an auto-flush when it is
+    // enabled. That flush is not forced, so during request startup (e.g. when
+    // AppSec blocks the request in RINIT) it would serialize the closed spans
+    // and then drop them, leaving nothing for the forced flush below. Only
+    // the forced flush must send them.
+    zend_bool suppress_auto_flush = DDTRACE_G(suppress_auto_flush);
+    DDTRACE_G(suppress_auto_flush) = true;
+    zend_try {
+        ddtrace_close_all_open_spans(true);
+    } zend_catch {
+        DDTRACE_G(suppress_auto_flush) = suppress_auto_flush;
+        zend_bailout();
+    } zend_end_try();
+    DDTRACE_G(suppress_auto_flush) = suppress_auto_flush;
     ddtrace_flush_tracer(true, true, false);
 }
diff --git a/tracer/ddtrace_globals.h b/tracer/ddtrace_globals.h
index c1fbe26108..d0b3b9ee03 100644
--- a/tracer/ddtrace_globals.h
+++ b/tracer/ddtrace_globals.h
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ typedef struct {
     dogstatsd_client dogstatsd_client;
 #endif
     zend_bool in_shutdown;
+    // Set while ddtrace_close_all_spans_and_flush() closes the open spans, so
+    // that closing the root span does not trigger an auto-flush of its own.
+    zend_bool suppress_auto_flush;
 
     zend_long default_priority_sampling;
     zend_long propagated_priority_sampling;
diff --git a/tracer/span.c b/tracer/span.c
index 3192000a64..e4b1229e36 100644
--- a/tracer/span.c
+++ b/tracer/span.c
@@ -898,7 +898,7 @@ static void dd_close_entry_span_of_stack(ddtrace_span_stack *stack) {
     }
 #endif
 
-    if (closed_root_stack && get_DD_TRACE_AUTO_FLUSH_ENABLED()
+    if (closed_root_stack && get_DD_TRACE_AUTO_FLUSH_ENABLED() && !DDTRACE_G(suppress_auto_flush)
         && ddtrace_flush_tracer(false, get_DD_TRACE_FLUSH_COLLECT_CYCLES(), false) == FAILURE) {
         // In case we have root spans enabled, we need to always flush if we close that one (RSHUTDOWN)
         LOG(WARN, "Unable to auto flush the tracer");