diff --git a/http-server-netty/src/main/java/io/micronaut/http/server/netty/HttpPipelineBuilder.java b/http-server-netty/src/main/java/io/micronaut/http/server/netty/HttpPipelineBuilder.java
index 799f8eb7022..84a491b9e33 100644
--- a/http-server-netty/src/main/java/io/micronaut/http/server/netty/HttpPipelineBuilder.java
+++ b/http-server-netty/src/main/java/io/micronaut/http/server/netty/HttpPipelineBuilder.java
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@
 
 import io.micronaut.core.annotation.NonNull;
 import io.micronaut.core.naming.Named;
-import io.micronaut.http.netty.AbstractNettyHttpRequest;
 import io.micronaut.http.context.event.HttpRequestReceivedEvent;
+import io.micronaut.http.netty.AbstractNettyHttpRequest;
 import io.micronaut.http.netty.channel.ChannelPipelineCustomizer;
 import io.micronaut.http.netty.stream.HttpStreamsServerHandler;
 import io.micronaut.http.netty.stream.StreamingInboundHttp2ToHttpAdapter;
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import io.micronaut.http.ssl.ServerSslConfiguration;
 import io.netty.channel.Channel;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelInitializer;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelOutboundHandler;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelPipeline;
 import io.netty.channel.SimpleChannelInboundHandler;
@@ -442,7 +443,14 @@ public void upgradeTo(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, FullHttpRequest upgradeRequest)
                     server.getServerConfiguration().getMaxH2cUpgradeRequestSize()
             );
             final CleartextHttp2ServerUpgradeHandler cleartextHttp2ServerUpgradeHandler =
-                    new CleartextHttp2ServerUpgradeHandler(sourceCodec, upgradeHandler, connectionHandler);
+                    new CleartextHttp2ServerUpgradeHandler(sourceCodec, upgradeHandler, new ChannelInitializer<Channel>() {
+                        @Override
+                        protected void initChannel(@NonNull Channel ch) throws Exception {
+                            ch.pipeline().addLast(connectionHandler);
+                            insertHttp2DownstreamHandlers();
+                            onRequestPipelineBuilt();
+                        }
+                    });
 
             pipeline.addLast(cleartextHttp2ServerUpgradeHandler);
             pipeline.addLast(fallbackHandlerName, new SimpleChannelInboundHandler<HttpMessage>() {
diff --git a/http-server-netty/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/http/server/netty/http2/H2cSpec.groovy b/http-server-netty/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/http/server/netty/http2/H2cSpec.groovy
index 92df66cf4dc..6cb6f77ef02 100644
--- a/http-server-netty/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/http/server/netty/http2/H2cSpec.groovy
+++ b/http-server-netty/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/http/server/netty/http2/H2cSpec.groovy
@@ -235,6 +235,72 @@ class H2cSpec extends Specification {
         content.release()
     }
 
+    def 'prior knowledge'() {
+        given:
+        def responseFuture = new CompletableFuture()
+
+        def group = new NioEventLoopGroup(1)
+        def bootstrap = new Bootstrap()
+                .remoteAddress(embeddedServer.host, embeddedServer.port)
+                .group(group)
+                .channel(NioSocketChannel.class)
+                .handler(new ChannelInitializer<SocketChannel>() {
+                    @Override
+                    protected void initChannel(@NonNull SocketChannel ch) throws Exception {
+                        def http2Connection = new DefaultHttp2Connection(false)
+                        def inboundAdapter = new InboundHttp2ToHttpAdapterBuilder(http2Connection)
+                                .maxContentLength(1000000)
+                                .validateHttpHeaders(true)
+                                .propagateSettings(true)
+                                .build()
+                        def connectionHandler = new HttpToHttp2ConnectionHandlerBuilder()
+                                .connection(http2Connection)
+                                .frameListener(new DelegatingDecompressorFrameListener(http2Connection, inboundAdapter))
+                                .build()
+
+                        ch.pipeline()
+                                .addLast(connectionHandler)
+                                .addLast(new ChannelInboundHandlerAdapter() {
+                                    @Override
+                                    void channelRead(@NonNull ChannelHandlerContext ctx, @NonNull Object msg) throws Exception {
+                                        ctx.read()
+                                        if (msg instanceof HttpMessage) {
+                                            if (msg.headers().getInt(HttpConversionUtil.ExtensionHeaderNames.STREAM_ID.text(), -1) != 3) {
+                                                responseFuture.completeExceptionally(new AssertionError("Response must be on stream 3"));
+                                            }
+                                            responseFuture.complete(ReferenceCountUtil.retain(msg))
+                                        }
+                                        super.channelRead(ctx, msg)
+                                    }
+
+                                    @Override
+                                    void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Throwable cause) throws Exception {
+                                        super.exceptionCaught(ctx, cause)
+                                        cause.printStackTrace()
+                                        responseFuture.completeExceptionally(cause)
+                                    }
+                                })
+
+                    }
+                })
+
+        def channel = (SocketChannel) bootstrap.connect().await().channel()
+
+        def request = new DefaultFullHttpRequest(HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1, HttpMethod.GET, '/h2c/test')
+        request.headers().set(HttpConversionUtil.ExtensionHeaderNames.SCHEME.text(), "http")
+        channel.writeAndFlush(request)
+        channel.read()
+
+        expect:
+        def resp = responseFuture.get(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+        resp != null
+
+        cleanup:
+        channel.close()
+        resp.release()
+        group.shutdownGracefully()
+    }
+
     @Controller("/h2c")
     static class TestController {
         @Get("/test")