diff --git a/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/persistent/PersistentTopic.java b/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/persistent/PersistentTopic.java
index 69c7f404fdd57..98c698995a0f4 100644
--- a/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/persistent/PersistentTopic.java
+++ b/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/persistent/PersistentTopic.java
@@ -3229,9 +3229,11 @@ public void checkInactiveSubscriptions() {
                     .toMillis(nsExpirationTime == null ? defaultExpirationTime : nsExpirationTime);
             if (expirationTimeMillis > 0) {
                 subscriptions.forEach((subName, sub) -> {
-                    if (sub.dispatcher != null && sub.dispatcher.isConsumerConnected()
-                            || sub.isReplicated()
-                            || isCompactionSubscription(subName)) {
+                    if (sub.dispatcher != null && sub.dispatcher.isConsumerConnected()) {
+                        sub.cursor.updateLastActive();
+                        return;
+                    }
+                    if (sub.isReplicated() || isCompactionSubscription(subName)) {
                         return;
                     }
                     if (System.currentTimeMillis() - sub.cursor.getLastActive() > expirationTimeMillis) {
diff --git a/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/BrokerServiceTest.java b/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/BrokerServiceTest.java
index be1221b7fab41..199bff7ef561e 100644
--- a/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/BrokerServiceTest.java
+++ b/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/BrokerServiceTest.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import static org.apache.pulsar.common.naming.SystemTopicNames.TRANSACTION_COORDINATOR_LOG;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyString;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doNothing;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.doReturn;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
@@ -1313,6 +1314,66 @@ public void testCheckInactiveSubscriptionsShouldNotDeleteCompactionCursor() thro
 
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testCheckInactiveSubscriptionWhenNoMessageToAck() throws Exception {
+        String namespace = "prop/testInactiveSubscriptionWhenNoMessageToAck";
+
+        try {
+            admin.namespaces().createNamespace(namespace);
+        } catch (PulsarAdminException.ConflictException e) {
+            // Ok.. (if test fails intermittently and namespace is already created)
+        }
+        // set enable subscription expiration.
+        admin.namespaces().setSubscriptionExpirationTime(namespace, 1);
+
+        String topic = "persistent://" + namespace + "/my-topic";
+        Producer<byte[]> producer = pulsarClient.newProducer().topic(topic).create();
+        producer.send("test".getBytes());
+        producer.close();
+
+        // create consumer to consume all messages
+        Consumer<byte[]> consumer = pulsarClient.newConsumer().topic(topic).subscriptionName("sub1")
+                .subscriptionInitialPosition(SubscriptionInitialPosition.Earliest).subscribe();
+        consumer.acknowledge(consumer.receive());
+
+        Optional<Topic> topicOptional = pulsar.getBrokerService().getTopic(topic, true).get();
+        assertTrue(topicOptional.isPresent());
+        PersistentTopic persistentTopic = (PersistentTopic) topicOptional.get();
+
+        // wait for 1min, but consumer is still connected all the time.
+        // so subscription should not be deleted.
+        Thread.sleep(60000);
+        persistentTopic.checkInactiveSubscriptions();
+        assertTrue(persistentTopic.getSubscriptions().containsKey("sub1"));
+        PersistentSubscription sub = persistentTopic.getSubscription("sub1");
+
+        // shutdown pulsar ungracefully
+        // disable the updateLastActive method to simulate the ungraceful shutdown
+        ManagedCursorImpl cursor = (ManagedCursorImpl) sub.getCursor();
+        ManagedCursorImpl spyCursor = Mockito.spy(cursor);
+        doNothing().when(spyCursor).updateLastActive();
+        Field cursorField = PersistentSubscription.class.getDeclaredField("cursor");
+        cursorField.setAccessible(true);
+        cursorField.set(sub, spyCursor);
+
+        // restart pulsar
+        consumer.close();
+        restartBroker();
+
+        admin.lookups().lookupTopic(topic);
+        topicOptional = pulsar.getBrokerService().getTopic(topic, true).get();
+        assertTrue(topicOptional.isPresent());
+        persistentTopic = (PersistentTopic) topicOptional.get();
+        persistentTopic.checkInactiveSubscriptions();
+        // wait for two seconds to complete the async task
+        Thread.sleep(2000);
+
+        // check if subscription is still present
+        assertTrue(persistentTopic.getSubscriptions().containsKey("sub1"));
+        sub = (PersistentSubscription) persistentTopic.getSubscription("sub1");
+        assertNotNull(sub);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Verifies brokerService should not have deadlock and successfully remove topic from topicMap on topic-failure and
      * it should not introduce deadlock while performing it.