diff --git a/openwisp_controller/connection/connectors/ssh.py b/openwisp_controller/connection/connectors/ssh.py
index 67240837f..61850054e 100644
--- a/openwisp_controller/connection/connectors/ssh.py
+++ b/openwisp_controller/connection/connectors/ssh.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import logging
 import socket
+import time
 from io import BytesIO, StringIO
 
 import paramiko
@@ -186,6 +187,7 @@ def exec_command(
         logger.info("Executing command: {0}".format(command))
         # execute commmand
         try:
+            start_cmd = time.perf_counter()
             stdin, stdout, stderr = self.shell.exec_command(command, timeout=timeout)
         # re-raise socket.timeout to avoid being catched
         # by the subsequent `except Exception as e` block
@@ -196,7 +198,14 @@ def exec_command(
             logger.exception(e)
             raise e
         # store command exit status
-        exit_status = stdout.channel.recv_exit_status()
+        # workaround https://github.com/paramiko/paramiko/issues/1815
+        # workaround https://github.com/paramiko/paramiko/issues/1787
+        # Ref. https://docs.paramiko.org/en/stable/api/channel.html#paramiko.channel.Channel.recv_exit_status  # noqa
+        stdout.channel.status_event.wait(
+            timeout=timeout - int(time.perf_counter() - start_cmd)
+        )
+        assert stdout.channel.status_event.is_set()
+        exit_status = stdout.channel.exit_status
         # log standard output
         # try to decode to UTF-8, ignoring unconvertible characters
         # https://docs.python.org/3/howto/unicode.html#the-string-type
diff --git a/openwisp_controller/connection/tests/test_models.py b/openwisp_controller/connection/tests/test_models.py
index 6db7162e3..14693dfbd 100644
--- a/openwisp_controller/connection/tests/test_models.py
+++ b/openwisp_controller/connection/tests/test_models.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import socket
 from unittest import mock
+from unittest.mock import PropertyMock
 
 import paramiko
 from django.contrib.auth.models import ContentType
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ def _exec_command_return_value(
         stderr_ = mock.Mock()
         stdin_.read().decode.return_value = stdin
         stdout_.read().decode.return_value = stdout
-        stdout_.channel.recv_exit_status.return_value = exit_code
+        type(stdout_.channel).exit_status = PropertyMock(return_value=exit_code)
         stderr_.read().decode.return_value = stderr
         return (stdin_, stdout_, stderr_)
 
@@ -1009,7 +1010,7 @@ def _assert_applying_conf_test_command(mocked_exec):
                 # 1. Checking openwisp_config returns with 0
                 # 2. Testing presence of /tmp/openwisp/applying_conf returns with 1
                 # 3. Restarting openwisp_config returns with 0 exit code
-                stdout.channel.recv_exit_status.side_effect = [0, 1, 1]
+                type(stdout.channel).exit_status = PropertyMock(side_effect=[0, 1, 1])
                 mocked_exec_command.return_value = (stdin, stdout, stderr)
                 conf.save()
                 self.assertEqual(mocked_exec_command.call_count, 3)