diff --git a/apps/emqx/src/emqx_connection.erl b/apps/emqx/src/emqx_connection.erl
index 1caf345e6..4ebc5b5e6 100644
--- a/apps/emqx/src/emqx_connection.erl
+++ b/apps/emqx/src/emqx_connection.erl
@@ -708,8 +708,6 @@ handle_timeout(
     TRef,
     keepalive,
     State = #state{
-        transport = Transport,
-        socket = Socket,
         channel = Channel
     }
 ) ->
@@ -717,12 +715,9 @@ handle_timeout(
         disconnected ->
             {ok, State};
         _ ->
-            case Transport:getstat(Socket, [recv_oct]) of
-                {ok, [{recv_oct, RecvOct}]} ->
-                    handle_timeout(TRef, {keepalive, RecvOct}, State);
-                {error, Reason} ->
-                    handle_info({sock_error, Reason}, State)
-            end
+            %% recv_pkt: valid MQTT message
+            RecvCnt = emqx_pd:get_counter(recv_pkt),
+            handle_timeout(TRef, {keepalive, RecvCnt}, State)
     end;
 handle_timeout(TRef, Msg, State) ->
     with_channel(handle_timeout, [TRef, Msg], State).
diff --git a/apps/emqx/test/emqx_connection_SUITE.erl b/apps/emqx/test/emqx_connection_SUITE.erl
index c5dfdf34a..344d81f8c 100644
--- a/apps/emqx/test/emqx_connection_SUITE.erl
+++ b/apps/emqx/test/emqx_connection_SUITE.erl
@@ -316,11 +316,6 @@ t_handle_timeout(_) ->
         emqx_connection:handle_timeout(TRef, keepalive, State)
     ),
 
-    ok = meck:expect(emqx_transport, getstat, fun(_Sock, _Options) -> {error, for_testing} end),
-    ?assertMatch(
-        {stop, {shutdown, for_testing}, _NState},
-        emqx_connection:handle_timeout(TRef, keepalive, State)
-    ),
     ?assertMatch({ok, _NState}, emqx_connection:handle_timeout(TRef, undefined, State)).
 
 t_parse_incoming(_) ->