diff --git a/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_req_fsm.c b/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_req_fsm.c
index f4d3810a27..770a4afc33 100644
--- a/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_req_fsm.c
+++ b/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_req_fsm.c
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
   REQ_STEP(fetch,               FETCH,		static) \
   REQ_STEP(deliver,             DELIVER,	static) \
   REQ_STEP(vclfail,             VCLFAIL,	static) \
-  REQ_STEP(synth,               SYNTH,		static) \
+  REQ_STEP(synth,               SYNTH,		) \
   REQ_STEP(transmit,            TRANSMIT,	static) \
   REQ_STEP(finish,              FINISH,		static)
 
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ cnt_synth(struct worker *wrk, struct req *req)
 
 	VSLb_ts_req(req, "Process", W_TIM_real(wrk));
 
-	while (wrk->vpi->handling == VCL_RET_FAIL) {
+	while (req->req_reset || wrk->vpi->handling == VCL_RET_FAIL) {
 		if (req->esi_level > 0) {
 			wrk->vpi->handling = VCL_RET_DELIVER;
 			break;
@@ -596,9 +596,9 @@ cnt_lookup(struct worker *wrk, struct req *req)
 	if (lr == HSH_BUSY) {
 		/*
 		 * We lost the session to a busy object, disembark the
-		 * worker thread.   We return to STP_LOOKUP when the busy
-		 * object has been unbusied, and still have the objhead
-		 * around to restart the lookup with.
+		 * worker thread.  We return to R_STP_LOOKUP, with the
+		 * object still around when it has been unbusied, to
+		 * restart the lookup with.
 		 */
 		return (REQ_FSM_DISEMBARK);
 	}
diff --git a/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_varnishd.h b/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_varnishd.h
index a2edf20833..ed12238f03 100644
--- a/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_varnishd.h
+++ b/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_varnishd.h
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ struct req_step {
 
 extern const struct req_step R_STP_TRANSPORT[1];
 extern const struct req_step R_STP_RECV[1];
+extern const struct req_step R_STP_SYNTH[1];
 
 struct vxid_pool {
 	uint64_t		next;
diff --git a/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_vrt_vcl.c b/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_vrt_vcl.c
index b4e77d1581..325ed2d134 100644
--- a/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_vrt_vcl.c
+++ b/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_vrt_vcl.c
@@ -560,13 +560,16 @@ req_poll(struct worker *wrk, struct req *req)
 {
 	struct req *top;
 
-	/* NB: Since a fail transition leads to vcl_synth, the request may be
-	 * short-circuited twice.
+	/* If the req_reset flag was raised without taking the emulated
+	 * return(fail) transition, there must be a good reason for that.
+	 * One is that sub vcl_recv is always followed by a call to sub
+	 * vcl_hash to always compute a cache key. The other one is that
+	 * we always want to run sub vcl_synth for return(fail) even if
+	 * we won't deliver the response, and maybe sub vcl_synth needs
+	 * the cache key. There may be other good reasons to proceed.
 	 */
-	if (req->req_reset) {
-		wrk->vpi->handling = VCL_RET_FAIL;
-		return (-1);
-	}
+	if (req->req_reset)
+		return (0);
 
 	top = req->top->topreq;
 	CHECK_OBJ_NOTNULL(top, REQ_MAGIC);
@@ -581,8 +584,12 @@ req_poll(struct worker *wrk, struct req *req)
 
 	VSLb_ts_req(req, "Reset", W_TIM_real(wrk));
 	wrk->stats->req_reset++;
-	wrk->vpi->handling = VCL_RET_FAIL;
 	req->req_reset = 1;
+
+	if (req->req_step == R_STP_SYNTH)
+		return (0);
+
+	wrk->vpi->handling = VCL_RET_FAIL;
 	return (-1);
 }
 
diff --git a/bin/varnishtest/tests/t02025.vtc b/bin/varnishtest/tests/t02025.vtc
index 39f987a068..58272056f2 100644
--- a/bin/varnishtest/tests/t02025.vtc
+++ b/bin/varnishtest/tests/t02025.vtc
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@ varnish v1 -vcl {
 	sub vcl_miss {
 		vtc.panic("unreachable");
 	}
+
+	sub vcl_synth {
+		if (resp.status == 408) {
+			set resp.http.gone = "bye";
+		}
+	}
 } -start
 
 logexpect l1 -v v1 -g raw -i Debug {
@@ -51,7 +57,8 @@ varnish v1 -expect req_reset == 1
 # is interpreted as before a second elapsed. Session VXIDs showing up
 # numerous times become increasingly more suspicious. The format can of
 # course be extended to add anything else useful for data mining.
-shell -expect "1000 ${localhost} 408" {
+shell -expect "1000 ${localhost} 408 bye" {
 	varnishncsa -n ${v1_name} -d \
-		-q 'Timestamp:Reset[2] < 1.0' -F '%{VSL:Begin[2]}x %h %s'
+		-q 'Timestamp:Reset[2] < 1.0' \
+		-F '%{VSL:Begin[2]}x %h %s %{gone}o'
 }