diff --git a/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/BeatsHandler.java b/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/BeatsHandler.java
index 9e96bcf3..efe463eb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/BeatsHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/BeatsHandler.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package org.logstash.beats;
 
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufAllocator;
+import io.netty.buffer.PooledByteBufAllocator;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
 import io.netty.channel.SimpleChannelInboundHandler;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
@@ -88,6 +90,9 @@ public void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Throwable cause) throws E
                     logger.info(format("closing (" + cause.getMessage() + ")"));
                 }
             } else {
+                PooledByteBufAllocator allocator = (PooledByteBufAllocator) ByteBufAllocator.DEFAULT;
+                OOMConnectionCloser.DirectMemoryUsage usageSnapshot = OOMConnectionCloser.DirectMemoryUsage.capture(allocator);
+                logger.info("Connection {}, memory status used: {}, pinned: {}, ratio {}", ctx.channel(), usageSnapshot.used, usageSnapshot.pinned, usageSnapshot.ratio);
                 final Throwable realCause = extractCause(cause, 0);
                 if (logger.isDebugEnabled()){
                     logger.info(format("Handling exception: " + cause + " (caused by: " + realCause + ")"), cause);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/OOMConnectionCloser.java b/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/OOMConnectionCloser.java
index 57a69802..751aba53 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/OOMConnectionCloser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/OOMConnectionCloser.java
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 import io.netty.buffer.PooledByteBufAllocator;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelInboundHandlerAdapter;
+import io.netty.util.ReferenceCountUtil;
+import io.netty.util.internal.PlatformDependent;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 
@@ -12,22 +14,31 @@
 
 public class OOMConnectionCloser extends ChannelInboundHandlerAdapter {
 
-    private static class DirectMemoryUsage {
-        private final long used;
-        private final long pinned;
-        private final short ratio;
+    private final PooledByteBufAllocator allocator;
 
-        private DirectMemoryUsage(long used, long pinned) {
+    static class DirectMemoryUsage {
+        final long used;
+        final long pinned;
+        private final PooledByteBufAllocator allocator;
+        final short ratio;
+
+        private DirectMemoryUsage(long used, long pinned, PooledByteBufAllocator allocator) {
             this.used = used;
             this.pinned = pinned;
+            this.allocator = allocator;
             this.ratio = (short) Math.round(((double) pinned / used) * 100);
         }
 
-        static DirectMemoryUsage capture() {
-            PooledByteBufAllocator allocator = (PooledByteBufAllocator) ByteBufAllocator.DEFAULT;
+        static DirectMemoryUsage capture(PooledByteBufAllocator allocator) {
             long usedDirectMemory = allocator.metric().usedDirectMemory();
             long pinnedDirectMemory = allocator.pinnedDirectMemory();
-            return new DirectMemoryUsage(usedDirectMemory, pinnedDirectMemory);
+            return new DirectMemoryUsage(usedDirectMemory, pinnedDirectMemory, allocator);
+        }
+
+        boolean isCloseToOOM() {
+            long maxDirectMemory = PlatformDependent.maxDirectMemory();
+            int chunkSize = allocator.metric().chunkSize();
+            return ((maxDirectMemory - used) <= chunkSize) && ratio > 75;
         }
     }
 
@@ -35,10 +46,28 @@ static DirectMemoryUsage capture() {
 
     public static final Pattern DIRECT_MEMORY_ERROR = Pattern.compile("^Cannot reserve \\d* bytes of direct buffer memory.*$");
 
+    OOMConnectionCloser() {
+        allocator = (PooledByteBufAllocator) ByteBufAllocator.DEFAULT;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void channelRead(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg) throws Exception {
+        DirectMemoryUsage direct = DirectMemoryUsage.capture(allocator);
+        logger.info("Direct memory status, used: {}, pinned: {}, ratio: {}", direct.used, direct.pinned, direct.ratio);
+        if (direct.isCloseToOOM()) {
+            logger.warn("Closing connection {} because running out of memory, used: {}, pinned: {}, ratio {}", ctx.channel(), direct.used, direct.pinned, direct.ratio);
+            ReferenceCountUtil.release(msg); // to free the memory used by the buffer
+            ctx.flush();
+            ctx.close();
+        } else {
+            super.channelRead(ctx, msg);
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Throwable cause) throws Exception {
         if (isDirectMemoryOOM(cause)) {
-            DirectMemoryUsage direct = DirectMemoryUsage.capture();
+            DirectMemoryUsage direct = DirectMemoryUsage.capture(allocator);
             logger.info("Direct memory status, used: {}, pinned: {}, ratio: {}", direct.used, direct.pinned, direct.ratio);
             logger.warn("Dropping connection {} due to lack of available Direct Memory. Please lower the number of concurrent connections or reduce the batch size. " +
                     "Alternatively, raise -XX:MaxDirectMemorySize option in the JVM running Logstash", ctx.channel());
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/Server.java b/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/Server.java
index e456640d..90bc733b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/Server.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/logstash/beats/Server.java
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ private class BeatsInitializer extends ChannelInitializer<SocketChannel> {
 
         public void initChannel(SocketChannel socket){
             ChannelPipeline pipeline = socket.pipeline();
+            pipeline.addLast(new OOMConnectionCloser());
 
             if (isSslEnabled()) {
                 pipeline.addLast(SSL_HANDLER, sslHandlerProvider.sslHandlerForChannel(socket));
@@ -137,7 +138,6 @@ public void initChannel(SocketChannel socket){
             pipeline.addLast(new FlowLimiterHandler());
             pipeline.addLast(new ThunderingGuardHandler());
             pipeline.addLast(new BeatsParser());
-            pipeline.addLast(new OOMConnectionCloser());
             pipeline.addLast(new BeatsHandler(localMessageListener));
         }