diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/net_helper.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/net_helper.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..4fe0befa13fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/net_helper.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+#
+# Helper functions
+
+wait_local_port_listen()
+{
+	local listener_ns="${1}"
+	local port="${2}"
+	local protocol="${3}"
+	local port_hex
+	local i
+
+	port_hex="$(printf "%04X" "${port}")"
+	for i in $(seq 10); do
+		if ip netns exec "${listener_ns}" cat /proc/net/"${protocol}"* | \
+		   grep -q "${port_hex}"; then
+			break
+		fi
+		sleep 0.1
+	done
+}
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/udpgro.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/udpgro.sh
index 6a443ca3cd3a..41d85eb745b7 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/udpgro.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/udpgro.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 #
 # Run a series of udpgro functional tests.
 
+source net_helper.sh
+
 readonly PEER_NS="ns-peer-$(mktemp -u XXXXXX)"
 
 # set global exit status, but never reset nonzero one.
@@ -49,8 +51,7 @@ run_one() {
 		echo "ok" || \
 		echo "failed" &
 
-	# Hack: let bg programs complete the startup
-	sleep 0.2
+	wait_local_port_listen ${PEER_NS} 8000 udp
 	./udpgso_bench_tx ${tx_args}
 	ret=$?
 	wait $(jobs -p)
@@ -95,7 +96,7 @@ run_one_nat() {
 		echo "ok" || \
 		echo "failed"&
 
-	sleep 0.1
+	wait_local_port_listen "${PEER_NS}" 8000 udp
 	./udpgso_bench_tx ${tx_args}
 	ret=$?
 	kill -INT $pid
@@ -116,11 +117,9 @@ run_one_2sock() {
 		echo "ok" || \
 		echo "failed" &
 
-	# Hack: let bg programs complete the startup
-	sleep 0.2
+	wait_local_port_listen "${PEER_NS}" 12345 udp
 	./udpgso_bench_tx ${tx_args} -p 12345
-	sleep 0.1
-	# first UDP GSO socket should be closed at this point
+	wait_local_port_listen "${PEER_NS}" 8000 udp
 	./udpgso_bench_tx ${tx_args}
 	ret=$?
 	wait $(jobs -p)
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/udpgro_bench.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/udpgro_bench.sh
index 8a1109a545db..12e7b48355b2 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/udpgro_bench.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/udpgro_bench.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 #
 # Run a series of udpgro benchmarks
 
+source net_helper.sh
+
 readonly PEER_NS="ns-peer-$(mktemp -u XXXXXX)"
 
 cleanup() {
@@ -38,8 +40,7 @@ run_one() {
 	ip netns exec "${PEER_NS}" ./udpgso_bench_rx ${rx_args} -r &
 	ip netns exec "${PEER_NS}" ./udpgso_bench_rx -t ${rx_args} -r &
 
-	# Hack: let bg programs complete the startup
-	sleep 0.2
+	wait_local_port_listen "${PEER_NS}" 8000 udp
 	./udpgso_bench_tx ${tx_args}
 }