diff --git a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
index 6ec06a33688a..3f6d3d5f5626 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
+++ b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
@@ -881,9 +881,10 @@ tcp_fastopen_key - list of comma separated 32-digit hexadecimal INTEGERs
 tcp_syn_retries - INTEGER
 	Number of times initial SYNs for an active TCP connection attempt
 	will be retransmitted. Should not be higher than 127. Default value
-	is 6, which corresponds to 63seconds till the last retransmission
-	with the current initial RTO of 1second. With this the final timeout
-	for an active TCP connection attempt will happen after 127seconds.
+	is 6, which corresponds to 67seconds (with tcp_syn_linear_timeouts = 4)
+	till the last retransmission with the current initial RTO of 1second.
+	With this the final timeout for an active TCP connection attempt
+	will happen after 131seconds.
 
 tcp_timestamps - INTEGER
 	Enable timestamps as defined in RFC1323.
@@ -946,6 +947,16 @@ tcp_pacing_ca_ratio - INTEGER
 
 	Default: 120
 
+tcp_syn_linear_timeouts - INTEGER
+	The number of times for an active TCP connection to retransmit SYNs with
+	a linear backoff timeout before defaulting to an exponential backoff
+	timeout. This has no effect on SYNACK at the passive TCP side.
+
+	With an initial RTO of 1 and tcp_syn_linear_timeouts = 4 we would
+	expect SYN RTOs to be: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, ... (4 linear timeouts,
+	and the first exponential backoff using 2^0 * initial_RTO).
+	Default: 4
+
 tcp_tso_win_divisor - INTEGER
 	This allows control over what percentage of the congestion window
 	can be consumed by a single TSO frame.
diff --git a/include/net/netns/ipv4.h b/include/net/netns/ipv4.h
index db762e35aca9..a4efb7a2796c 100644
--- a/include/net/netns/ipv4.h
+++ b/include/net/netns/ipv4.h
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ struct netns_ipv4 {
 	int sysctl_udp_rmem_min;
 
 	u8 sysctl_fib_notify_on_flag_change;
+	u8 sysctl_tcp_syn_linear_timeouts;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_NET_L3_MASTER_DEV
 	u8 sysctl_udp_l3mdev_accept;
diff --git a/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c b/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c
index 40fe70fc2015..6ae3345a3bdf 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ static int ip_ttl_min = 1;
 static int ip_ttl_max = 255;
 static int tcp_syn_retries_min = 1;
 static int tcp_syn_retries_max = MAX_TCP_SYNCNT;
+static int tcp_syn_linear_timeouts_max = MAX_TCP_SYNCNT;
 static int ip_ping_group_range_min[] = { 0, 0 };
 static int ip_ping_group_range_max[] = { GID_T_MAX, GID_T_MAX };
 static u32 u32_max_div_HZ = UINT_MAX / HZ;
@@ -1470,6 +1471,15 @@ static struct ctl_table ipv4_net_table[] = {
 		.extra1         = SYSCTL_ZERO,
 		.extra2         = &tcp_plb_max_cong_thresh,
 	},
+	{
+		.procname = "tcp_syn_linear_timeouts",
+		.data = &init_net.ipv4.sysctl_tcp_syn_linear_timeouts,
+		.maxlen = sizeof(u8),
+		.mode = 0644,
+		.proc_handler = proc_dou8vec_minmax,
+		.extra1 = SYSCTL_ZERO,
+		.extra2 = &tcp_syn_linear_timeouts_max,
+	},
 	{ }
 };
 
diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c b/net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c
index 39bda2b1066e..db24ed8f8509 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c
@@ -3275,6 +3275,7 @@ static int __net_init tcp_sk_init(struct net *net)
 	else
 		net->ipv4.tcp_congestion_control = &tcp_reno;
 
+	net->ipv4.sysctl_tcp_syn_linear_timeouts = 4;
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
index b839c2f91292..0d93a2573807 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
@@ -234,14 +234,19 @@ static int tcp_write_timeout(struct sock *sk)
 	struct tcp_sock *tp = tcp_sk(sk);
 	struct net *net = sock_net(sk);
 	bool expired = false, do_reset;
-	int retry_until;
+	int retry_until, max_retransmits;
 
 	if ((1 << sk->sk_state) & (TCPF_SYN_SENT | TCPF_SYN_RECV)) {
 		if (icsk->icsk_retransmits)
 			__dst_negative_advice(sk);
 		retry_until = icsk->icsk_syn_retries ? :
 			READ_ONCE(net->ipv4.sysctl_tcp_syn_retries);
-		expired = icsk->icsk_retransmits >= retry_until;
+
+		max_retransmits = retry_until;
+		if (sk->sk_state == TCP_SYN_SENT)
+			max_retransmits += READ_ONCE(net->ipv4.sysctl_tcp_syn_linear_timeouts);
+
+		expired = icsk->icsk_retransmits >= max_retransmits;
 	} else {
 		if (retransmits_timed_out(sk, READ_ONCE(net->ipv4.sysctl_tcp_retries1), 0)) {
 			/* Black hole detection */
@@ -577,8 +582,12 @@ out_reset_timer:
 	    icsk->icsk_retransmits <= TCP_THIN_LINEAR_RETRIES) {
 		icsk->icsk_backoff = 0;
 		icsk->icsk_rto = min(__tcp_set_rto(tp), TCP_RTO_MAX);
-	} else {
-		/* Use normal (exponential) backoff */
+	} else if (sk->sk_state != TCP_SYN_SENT ||
+		   icsk->icsk_backoff >
+		   READ_ONCE(net->ipv4.sysctl_tcp_syn_linear_timeouts)) {
+		/* Use normal (exponential) backoff unless linear timeouts are
+		 * activated.
+		 */
 		icsk->icsk_rto = min(icsk->icsk_rto << 1, TCP_RTO_MAX);
 	}
 	inet_csk_reset_xmit_timer(sk, ICSK_TIME_RETRANS,