diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2e42787756..254daac015 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -86,6 +86,10 @@ Adding a new version? You'll need three changes:
   from Konnect. The initial period will be used until a valid license is retrieved.
   The default values are 1m and 12h respectively.
   [#4178](https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/pull/4178)
+- Whenever the kong configuration is corrrectly built and pushed, it is stored
+  in memory and used as a fallback in case the configuration gets broken in the
+  future.
+  [#4205](https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/pull/4205)
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/internal/dataplane/kong_client.go b/internal/dataplane/kong_client.go
index f367854702..569d23fc57 100644
--- a/internal/dataplane/kong_client.go
+++ b/internal/dataplane/kong_client.go
@@ -117,6 +117,11 @@ type KongClient struct {
 	// SHAs is a slice is configuration hashes send in last batch send.
 	SHAs []string
 
+	// lastValidKongState contains the last valid configuration pushed
+	// to the gateways. It is used as a fallback in case a newer config version is
+	// somehow broken.
+	lastValidKongState *kongstate.KongState
+
 	// clientsProvider allows retrieving the most recent set of clients.
 	clientsProvider clients.AdminAPIClientsProvider
 
@@ -388,6 +393,13 @@ func (c *KongClient) Update(ctx context.Context) error {
 
 	// In case of a failure in syncing configuration with Gateways, propagate the error.
 	if gatewaysSyncErr != nil {
+		if c.lastValidKongState != nil {
+			_, fallbackSyncErr := c.sendOutToGatewayClients(ctx, c.lastValidKongState, c.kongConfig)
+			if fallbackSyncErr != nil {
+				return errors.Join(gatewaysSyncErr, fallbackSyncErr)
+			}
+			c.logger.Debug("due to errors in the current config, the last valid config has been pushed to Gateways")
+		}
 		return gatewaysSyncErr
 	}
 
@@ -423,6 +435,8 @@ func (c *KongClient) sendOutToGatewayClients(
 	sort.Strings(shas)
 	c.SHAs = shas
 
+	c.lastValidKongState = s
+
 	return previousSHAs, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/test/e2e/all_in_one_test.go b/test/e2e/all_in_one_test.go
index 6ed380e050..73dd521f1e 100644
--- a/test/e2e/all_in_one_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/all_in_one_test.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 	autoscalingv1 "k8s.io/api/autoscaling/v1"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	netv1 "k8s.io/api/networking/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	k8stypes "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 
@@ -305,7 +306,7 @@ func TestDeployAllInOneDBLESS(t *testing.T) {
 	deployments := getManifestDeployments(manifestFilePath)
 
 	t.Log("running ingress tests to verify all-in-one deployed ingress controller and proxy are functional")
-	deployIngressWithEchoBackends(ctx, t, env, numberOfEchoBackends)
+	ingress := deployIngressWithEchoBackends(ctx, t, env, numberOfEchoBackends)
 	verifyIngressWithEchoBackends(ctx, t, env, numberOfEchoBackends)
 	ensureAllProxyReplicasAreConfigured(ctx, t, env, deployments.ProxyNN)
 
@@ -325,6 +326,19 @@ func TestDeployAllInOneDBLESS(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Log("scale proxy to 3 replicas and wait for all instances to be ready")
 	scaleDeployment(ctx, t, env, deployments.ProxyNN, 3)
 	ensureAllProxyReplicasAreConfigured(ctx, t, env, deployments.ProxyNN)
+
+	t.Log("scale proxy to 1 replica")
+	scaleDeployment(ctx, t, env, deployments.ProxyNN, 1)
+
+	t.Log("misconfigure the ingress")
+	reconfigureExistingIngress(ctx, t, env, ingress, func(i *netv1.Ingress) {
+		ingress.Spec.Rules[0].HTTP.Paths[0].Path = badEchoPath
+	})
+
+	t.Log("scale proxy to 3 replicas and verify that the new replicas get the old good configuration")
+	scaleDeployment(ctx, t, env, deployments.ProxyNN, 3)
+	// verify all the proxy replicas have the last good configuration
+	ensureAllProxyReplicasAreConfigured(ctx, t, env, deployments.ProxyNN)
 }
 
 func ensureAllProxyReplicasAreConfigured(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, env environments.Environment, proxyDeploymentNN k8stypes.NamespacedName) {
diff --git a/test/e2e/helpers_test.go b/test/e2e/helpers_test.go
index c63631a6be..594198719a 100644
--- a/test/e2e/helpers_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/helpers_test.go
@@ -84,6 +84,12 @@ const (
 
 	// migrationsJobName is the name of the migrations job in postgres manifests variant.
 	migrationsJobName = "kong-migrations"
+
+	// echoPath is the legit echo path to use for the echo service.
+	echoPath = "/echo"
+
+	// badEchoPath is a wrong path to use for testing ingress misconfiguration.
+	badEchoPath = "/~/echo/**"
 )
 
 // setupE2ETest builds a testing environment for the E2E test. It also sets up the environment's teardown and test
@@ -409,7 +415,7 @@ func deployIngressWithEchoBackends(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, env enviro
 	_, err = c.ConfigurationV1().KongIngresses(corev1.NamespaceDefault).Create(ctx, king, metav1.CreateOptions{})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	t.Logf("creating an ingress for service %s with ingress.class %s", service.Name, ingressClass)
-	ingress := generators.NewIngressForService("/echo", map[string]string{
+	ingress := generators.NewIngressForService(echoPath, map[string]string{
 		annotations.IngressClassKey: ingressClass,
 		"konghq.com/strip-path":     "true",
 		"konghq.com/override":       kongIngressName,
@@ -418,6 +424,14 @@ func deployIngressWithEchoBackends(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, env enviro
 	return ingress
 }
 
+func reconfigureExistingIngress(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, env environments.Environment, ingress *netv1.Ingress, options ...func(*netv1.Ingress)) {
+	for _, opt := range options {
+		opt(ingress)
+	}
+	_, err := env.Cluster().Client().NetworkingV1().Ingresses(corev1.NamespaceDefault).Update(ctx, ingress, metav1.UpdateOptions{})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+}
+
 //nolint:unparam
 func verifyIngressWithEchoBackends(
 	ctx context.Context,