diff --git a/src/cluster/Backend.cc b/src/cluster/Backend.cc
index 70f3d7d87c..1f9b9567e0 100644
--- a/src/cluster/Backend.cc
+++ b/src/cluster/Backend.cc
@@ -132,10 +132,19 @@ std::optional<Event> Backend::MakeClusterEvent(FuncValPtr handler, ArgsSpan args
      *
      * @J-Gras prefers the current behavior. @awelzel wonders if there should
      * be an opt-in/opt-out for this behavior. Procrastinating it for now.
+     *
+     * In any case, if the current event has no timestamp information
+     * (detail::NO_TIMESTAMP is -1.0), use the current network time for
+     * the outgoing event instead as network timestamp metadata.
      */
     zeek::detail::EventMetadataVectorPtr meta;
-    if ( zeek::BifConst::EventMetadata::add_network_timestamp )
-        meta = zeek::detail::MakeEventMetadataVector(zeek::event_mgr.CurrentEventTime());
+    if ( zeek::BifConst::EventMetadata::add_network_timestamp ) {
+        auto ts = zeek::event_mgr.CurrentEventTime();
+        if ( ts == zeek::detail::NO_TIMESTAMP )
+            ts = run_state::network_time;
+
+        meta = zeek::detail::MakeEventMetadataVector(ts);
+    }
 
     return Event{eh, std::move(*checked_args), std::move(meta)};
 }
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/cluster.websocket.metadata/..client-metadata.out b/testing/btest/Baseline/cluster.websocket.metadata/..client-metadata.out
index 4ce606d056..976973e17e 100644
--- a/testing/btest/Baseline/cluster.websocket.metadata/..client-metadata.out
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/cluster.websocket.metadata/..client-metadata.out
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 Connected!
 ack {'type': 'ack', 'endpoint': 'endpoint', 'version': 'endpoint'}
 ping {'type': 'data-message', 'topic': '/test/pings/', '@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 1}, {'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 1}, {'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'string', 'data': 'ping'}, {'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'string', 'data': 'fourty-two'}, {'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 42}]}]}]}
-pong {'type': 'data-message', 'topic': '/test/pongs/', '@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 1}, {'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 1}, {'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'string', 'data': 'pong'}, {'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'string', 'data': 'fourty-two fourty-two'}, {'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 84}]}, {'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 1}, {'@data-type': 'timestamp', 'data': '1969-12-31T23:59:59.000'}]}]}]}]}
+pong {'type': 'data-message', 'topic': '/test/pongs/', '@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 1}, {'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 1}, {'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'string', 'data': 'pong'}, {'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'string', 'data': 'fourty-two fourty-two'}, {'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 84}]}, {'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'vector', 'data': [{'@data-type': 'count', 'data': 1}, {'@data-type': 'timestamp', 'data': '1970-01-01T01:18:31.000'}]}]}]}]}