diff --git a/modules/caddyhttp/reverseproxy/reverseproxy.go b/modules/caddyhttp/reverseproxy/reverseproxy.go
index b8253125c..5424da4d0 100644
--- a/modules/caddyhttp/reverseproxy/reverseproxy.go
+++ b/modules/caddyhttp/reverseproxy/reverseproxy.go
@@ -403,8 +403,10 @@ func (h *Handler) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, next caddyht
 	// websocket over http2, assuming backend doesn't support this, the request will be modifided to http1.1 upgrade
 	// TODO: once we can reliably detect backend support this, it can be removed for those backends
 	if r.ProtoMajor == 2 && r.Method == http.MethodConnect && r.Header.Get(":protocol") != "" {
-		caddyhttp.SetVar(clonedReq.Context(), "h2_websocket", true)
 		clonedReq.Header.Del(":protocol")
+		// keep the body for later use. http1.1 upgrade uses http.NoBody
+		caddyhttp.SetVar(clonedReq.Context(), "h2_websocket_body", clonedReq.Body)
+		clonedReq.Body = http.NoBody
 		clonedReq.Method = http.MethodGet
 		clonedReq.Header.Set("Upgrade", r.Header.Get(":protocol"))
 		clonedReq.Header.Set("Connection", "Upgrade")
diff --git a/modules/caddyhttp/reverseproxy/streaming.go b/modules/caddyhttp/reverseproxy/streaming.go
index 71bc90942..6f2c33900 100644
--- a/modules/caddyhttp/reverseproxy/streaming.go
+++ b/modules/caddyhttp/reverseproxy/streaming.go
@@ -88,7 +88,8 @@ func (h *Handler) handleUpgradeResponse(logger *zap.Logger, wg *sync.WaitGroup,
 	)
 	// websocket over http2, assuming backend doesn't support this, the request will be modifided to http1.1 upgrade
 	// TODO: once we can reliably detect backend support this, it can be removed for those backends
-	if b, ok := caddyhttp.GetVar(req.Context(), "h2_websocket").(bool); ok && b {
+	if body, ok := caddyhttp.GetVar(req.Context(), "h2_websocket_body").(io.ReadCloser); ok {
+		req.Body = body
 		rw.Header().Del("Upgrade")
 		rw.Header().Del("Connection")
 		rw.Header().Del("Sec-Websocket-Accept")