diff --git a/src/bgp/test/state_machine_test.cc b/src/bgp/test/state_machine_test.cc
index 2bbd2e47cc1..44986bdee55 100644
--- a/src/bgp/test/state_machine_test.cc
+++ b/src/bgp/test/state_machine_test.cc
@@ -66,6 +66,9 @@ class BgpSessionMock : public BgpSession {
         return true;
     }
 
+    virtual void AsyncReadStart() {
+    }
+
     void Close() {
         state_ = BgpSessionMock::CLOSE;
         BgpSession::Close();
@@ -176,6 +179,14 @@ class StateMachineUnitTest : public ::testing::Test {
         evm_.Shutdown();
     }
 
+    void StopStateMachine() {
+        sm_->work_queue_.set_disable(true);
+    }
+
+    void StartStateMachine() {
+        sm_->work_queue_.set_disable(false);
+    }
+
     virtual void SetUp() {
     }
 
@@ -403,15 +414,19 @@ class StateMachineUnitTest : public ::testing::Test {
     }
     void EvTcpPassiveOpen() {
         ConcurrencyScope scope("bgp::Config");
+        StopStateMachine();
         BgpSessionMock *session = session_mgr_->CreatePassiveSession();
         TcpSession::Endpoint endpoint;
         peer_->AcceptSession(session);
+        StartStateMachine();
     }
     void EvTcpDuplicatePassiveOpen() {
         ConcurrencyScope scope("bgp::Config");
+        StopStateMachine();
         BgpSessionMock *session = session_mgr_->CreateDuplicateSession();
         TcpSession::Endpoint endpoint;
         peer_->AcceptSession(session);
+        StartStateMachine();
     }
     void EvOpenTimerExpiredPassive() {
         EvTcpPassiveOpen();
diff --git a/src/io/tcp_session.cc b/src/io/tcp_session.cc
index 22d5c7f34ba..a53a3b541dc 100644
--- a/src/io/tcp_session.cc
+++ b/src/io/tcp_session.cc
@@ -52,13 +52,16 @@ TcpSession::TcpSession(
       established_(false),
       closed_(false),
       direction_(ACTIVE),
-      writer_(new TcpMessageWriter(this)) {
+      writer_(new TcpMessageWriter(this)),
+      name_("-") {
     refcount_ = 0;
     if (reader_task_id_ == -1) {
         TaskScheduler *scheduler = TaskScheduler::GetInstance();
         reader_task_id_ = scheduler->GetTaskId("io::ReaderTask");
     }
-    name_ = "-";
+    if (server_) {
+        io_strand_.reset(new Strand(*server->event_manager()->io_service()));
+    }
 }
 
 TcpSession::~TcpSession() {
@@ -114,7 +117,7 @@ void TcpSession::ReleaseBufferLocked(Buffer buffer) {
     assert(false);
 }
 
-void TcpSession::AsyncReadStart() {
+void TcpSession::AsyncReadStartInternal(TcpSessionPtr session) {
     mutable_buffer buffer = AllocateBuffer();
     tbb::mutex::scoped_lock lock(mutex_);
     if (!established_) {
@@ -124,6 +127,13 @@ void TcpSession::AsyncReadStart() {
     AsyncReadSome(buffer);
 }
 
+void TcpSession::AsyncReadStart() {
+    if (io_strand_) {
+        io_strand_->post(boost::bind(
+            &TcpSession::AsyncReadStartInternal, this, TcpSessionPtr(this)));
+    }
+}
+
 void TcpSession::DeferWriter() {
     // Update socket write block count.
     stats_.write_blocked++;
diff --git a/src/io/tcp_session.h b/src/io/tcp_session.h
index b426c859561..2b1797c7c57 100644
--- a/src/io/tcp_session.h
+++ b/src/io/tcp_session.h
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include <boost/asio/buffer.hpp>
 #include <boost/asio/io_service.hpp>
 #include <boost/asio/ip/tcp.hpp>
+#include <boost/asio/strand.hpp>
 #include <boost/intrusive_ptr.hpp>
 #include <boost/function.hpp>
 #include <boost/scoped_ptr.hpp>
@@ -135,7 +136,7 @@ class TcpSession {
     void set_read_on_connect(bool read) { read_on_connect_ = read; }
     void SessionEstablished(Endpoint remote, Direction direction);
 
-    void AsyncReadStart();
+    virtual void AsyncReadStart();
 
     const io::SocketStats &GetSocketStats() const { return stats_; }
     void GetRxSocketStats(SocketIOStats &socket_stats) const;
@@ -152,6 +153,7 @@ class TcpSession {
     static void AsyncWriteHandler(TcpSessionPtr session,
                                   const boost::system::error_code &error);
 
+    void AsyncReadStartInternal(TcpSessionPtr session);
     virtual Task* CreateReaderTask(boost::asio::mutable_buffer, size_t);
 
     virtual ~TcpSession();
@@ -186,6 +188,7 @@ class TcpSession {
     friend void intrusive_ptr_add_ref(TcpSession *session);
     friend void intrusive_ptr_release(TcpSession *session);
     typedef std::list<boost::asio::mutable_buffer> BufferQueue;
+    typedef boost::asio::strand Strand;
 
     static void WriteReadyInternal(TcpSessionPtr session,
                                    const boost::system::error_code &error,
@@ -208,6 +211,7 @@ class TcpSession {
 
     TcpServerPtr server_;
     boost::scoped_ptr<Socket> socket_;
+    boost::scoped_ptr<Strand> io_strand_;
     bool read_on_connect_;
     int buffer_size_;