diff --git a/tests/framework/microvm.py b/tests/framework/microvm.py
index 03f90905843..fa9dea79b82 100644
--- a/tests/framework/microvm.py
+++ b/tests/framework/microvm.py
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ def mark_killed(self):
 
         self._killed = True
 
-    def kill(self):
+    def kill(self, might_be_dead=False):
         """All clean up associated with this microVM should go here."""
         # pylint: disable=subprocess-run-check
         # if it was already killed, return
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ def kill(self):
 
         # Kill all background SSH connections
         for connection in self._connections:
-            connection.close()
+            connection.close(strict=not might_be_dead)
 
         # We start with vhost-user backends,
         # because if we stop Firecracker first, the backend will want
@@ -325,8 +325,10 @@ def kill(self):
 
         assert (
             "Shutting down VM after intercepting signal" not in self.log_data
+            or might_be_dead
         ), self.log_data
 
+        # pylint: disable=bare-except
         try:
             if self.firecracker_pid:
                 os.kill(self.firecracker_pid, signal.SIGKILL)
@@ -334,15 +336,16 @@ def kill(self):
             if self.screen_pid:
                 os.kill(self.screen_pid, signal.SIGKILL)
         except:
-            msg = (
-                "Failed to kill Firecracker Process. Did it already die (or did the UFFD handler process die and take it down)?"
-                if self.uffd_handler
-                else "Failed to kill Firecracker Process. Did it already die?"
-            )
+            if not might_be_dead:
+                msg = (
+                    "Failed to kill Firecracker Process. Did it already die (or did the UFFD handler process die and take it down)?"
+                    if self.uffd_handler
+                    else "Failed to kill Firecracker Process. Did it already die?"
+                )
 
-            self._dump_debug_information(msg)
+                self._dump_debug_information(msg)
 
-            raise
+                raise
 
         # if microvm was spawned then check if it gets killed
         if self._spawned:
diff --git a/tests/host_tools/network.py b/tests/host_tools/network.py
index 93cdb323c50..c8f45ed1898 100644
--- a/tests/host_tools/network.py
+++ b/tests/host_tools/network.py
@@ -145,11 +145,21 @@ def _init_connection(self):
                 self.close()
             raise
 
-    def _check_liveness(self) -> int:
-        """Checks whether the ControlPersist connection is still alive"""
+    def _check_liveness(self, strict=True) -> int | None:
+        """Checks whether the ControlPersist connection is still alive
+
+        It will return the pid of the ControlMaster if it is still running,
+        otherwise None
+        """
         check_cmd = ["ssh", "-O", "check", *self.options, self.user_host]
 
-        _, _, stderr = self._exec(check_cmd, check=True)
+        try:
+            _, _, stderr = self._exec(check_cmd, check=True)
+        except ChildProcessError:
+            if strict:
+                raise
+
+            return None
 
         pid_match = re.match(r"Master running \(pid=(\d+)\)", stderr)
 
@@ -157,9 +167,11 @@ def _check_liveness(self) -> int:
 
         return int(pid_match.group(1))
 
-    def close(self):
+    def close(self, strict=True):
         """Closes the ControlPersist connection"""
-        master_pid = self._check_liveness()
+        master_pid = self._check_liveness(strict)
+        if master_pid is None:
+            return
 
         stop_cmd = ["ssh", "-O", "stop", *self.options, self.user_host]
 
@@ -182,7 +194,7 @@ def run(self, cmd_string, timeout=100, *, check=False, debug=False):
 
         If `debug` is set, pass `-vvv` to `ssh`. Note that this will clobber stderr.
         """
-        self._check_liveness()
+        self._check_liveness(True)
 
         command = ["ssh", *self.options, self.user_host, cmd_string]
 
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/functional/test_balloon.py b/tests/integration_tests/functional/test_balloon.py
index 314cd9b5afd..f8960bedb6d 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests/functional/test_balloon.py
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/functional/test_balloon.py
@@ -228,6 +228,9 @@ def test_deflate_on_oom(uvm_plain_any, deflate_on_oom):
             assert balloon_size_after < balloon_size_before, "Balloon did not deflate"
         else:
             assert balloon_size_after >= balloon_size_before, "Balloon deflated"
+            # Kill it here, letting the infrastructure know that the process might
+            # be dead already.
+            test_microvm.kill(might_be_dead=True)
 
 
 # pylint: disable=C0103