diff --git a/include/tx_desc.h b/include/tx_desc.h
index a830d11..d75867c 100644
--- a/include/tx_desc.h
+++ b/include/tx_desc.h
@@ -39,12 +39,14 @@ struct tx_desc {
 	void *pkt;
 } __attribute__((__aligned__(64)));
 
-#define tx_desc_done(desc, pool)		do {		\
-	if ((desc)->flags & TX_DESC_FLAG_MEM_FROM_MBUF)		\
+#define tx_desc_done(desc, worker)		do {		\
+	if ((desc)->flags & TX_DESC_FLAG_MEM_FROM_MBUF) {	\
 		packet_free(desc->pkt);				\
+		worker->nr_write_mbuf -= 1;			\
+	}							\
 	if ((desc)->write_done)					\
 		desc->write_done(desc->base, desc->param);	\
-	tx_desc_free(pool, desc);				\
+	tx_desc_free(worker->tx_desc_pool, desc);		\
 } while (0)
 
 
diff --git a/src/sock.c b/src/sock.c
index 2b7b0fc..9553d35 100644
--- a/src/sock.c
+++ b/src/sock.c
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ static void reclaim_txq(struct tcp_sock *tsock)
 			break;
 
 		debug_assert(i <= tsock->txq.size);
-		tx_desc_done(desc, tsock->worker->tx_desc_pool);
+		tx_desc_done(desc, tsock->worker);
 	}
 
 	free(tsock->txq.descs);
diff --git a/src/tcp/tcp_input.c b/src/tcp/tcp_input.c
index 11e8c8f..7ca5052 100644
--- a/src/tcp/tcp_input.c
+++ b/src/tcp/tcp_input.c
@@ -754,11 +754,8 @@ static inline int ack_sent_data(struct tpa_worker *worker, struct tcp_sock *tsoc
 			tsock_write_latency_update(tsock, desc, now);
 		}
 
-		if (desc->flags & TX_DESC_FLAG_MEM_FROM_MBUF)
-			worker->nr_write_mbuf -= 1;
-
 		nr_acked_pkt += 1;
-		tx_desc_done(desc, worker->tx_desc_pool);
+		tx_desc_done(desc, worker);
 	} while (acked_len > 0);
 
 	/*
diff --git a/test/unit/tcp_timeout_rto.c b/test/unit/tcp_timeout_rto.c
index 1db96fd..6fc0bdc 100644
--- a/test/unit/tcp_timeout_rto.c
+++ b/test/unit/tcp_timeout_rto.c
@@ -82,8 +82,9 @@ static void test_tcp_timeout_rto_timeout(void)
 	}
 
 	/* TODO: speed up it */
+	tcp_cfg.retries = 3;
 	start_ts_us = worker->ts_us;
-	while (tsock->rto_shift < 3) {
+	while (tsock->rto_shift < tcp_cfg.retries) {
 		pkt = NULL;
 		assert(ut_tcp_output(&pkt, 1) <= 1); {
 			assert((uint32_t)(tsock->snd_nxt - tsock->snd_una) == sizeof(buf));
@@ -96,7 +97,12 @@ static void test_tcp_timeout_rto_timeout(void)
 		}
 	}
 
-	ut_close(tsock, CLOSE_TYPE_4WAY);
+	ut_close(tsock, CLOSE_TYPE_CLOSE_DIRECTLY);
+	/*
+	 * make sure nr_write_mbuf is updated correctly
+	 * after sock txq reclaim.
+	 */
+	assert(worker->nr_write_mbuf == 0);
 }
 
 /*