diff --git a/src/mworker.c b/src/mworker.c
index 0d788ca3d..e6c8e51b0 100644
--- a/src/mworker.c
+++ b/src/mworker.c
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ int mworker_env_to_proc_list()
 
 	env = getenv("HAPROXY_PROCESSES");
 	if (!env)
-		return 0;
+		goto no_env;
 
 	omsg = msg = strdup(env);
 	if (!msg) {
@@ -254,6 +254,24 @@ int mworker_env_to_proc_list()
 
 	unsetenv("HAPROXY_PROCESSES");
 
+no_env:
+
+	if (!proc_self) {
+
+		proc_self = mworker_proc_new();
+		if (!proc_self) {
+			ha_alert("Cannot allocate process structures.\n");
+			err = -1;
+			goto out;
+		}
+		proc_self->options |= PROC_O_TYPE_MASTER;
+		proc_self->pid = pid;
+		proc_self->timestamp = 0; /* we don't know the startime anymore */
+
+		LIST_APPEND(&proc_list, &proc_self->list);
+		ha_warning("The master internals are corrupted or it was started with a too old version (< 1.9). Please restart the master process.\n");
+	}
+
 out:
 	free(omsg);
 	return err;