diff --git a/probe/endpoint/procspy/benchmark_internal_test.go b/probe/endpoint/procspy/benchmark_internal_test.go
index ec1dea59c..1e48aab06 100644
--- a/probe/endpoint/procspy/benchmark_internal_test.go
+++ b/probe/endpoint/procspy/benchmark_internal_test.go
@@ -6,13 +6,16 @@ import (
 )
 
 func BenchmarkParseConnectionsBaseline(b *testing.B) {
-	readFile = func(string, *bytes.Buffer) error { return nil }
+	readFile = func(string, *bytes.Buffer) (int64, error) { return 0, nil }
 	benchmarkConnections(b)
 	// 333 ns/op, 0 allocs/op
 }
 
 func BenchmarkParseConnectionsFixture(b *testing.B) {
-	readFile = func(_ string, buf *bytes.Buffer) error { _, err := buf.Write(fixture); return err }
+	readFile = func(_ string, buf *bytes.Buffer) (int64, error) {
+		n, err := buf.Write(fixture)
+		return int64(n), err
+	}
 	benchmarkConnections(b)
 	// 15553 ns/op, 12 allocs/op
 }
diff --git a/probe/endpoint/procspy/proc.go b/probe/endpoint/procspy/proc.go
index 84c5a0086..dd8c47ae1 100644
--- a/probe/endpoint/procspy/proc.go
+++ b/probe/endpoint/procspy/proc.go
@@ -24,10 +24,10 @@ func SetProcRoot(root string) {
 // walkProcPid walks over all numerical (PID) /proc entries, and sees if their
 // ./fd/* files are symlink to sockets. Returns a map from socket ID (inode)
 // to PID. Will return an error if /proc isn't there.
-func walkProcPid(buf *bytes.Buffer, walker process.Walker) (map[uint64]Proc, error) {
+func walkProcPid(buf *bytes.Buffer, walker process.Walker) (map[uint64]*Proc, error) {
 	var (
-		res        = map[uint64]Proc{}
-		namespaces = map[uint64]struct{}{}
+		res        = map[uint64]*Proc{}
+		namespaces = map[uint64]bool{} // map namespace id -> has connections
 		statT      syscall.Stat_t
 	)
 
@@ -40,9 +40,14 @@ func walkProcPid(buf *bytes.Buffer, walker process.Walker) (map[uint64]Proc, err
 		if err := fs.Lstat(filepath.Join(procRoot, dirName, "/ns/net"), &statT); err != nil {
 			return
 		}
-		if _, ok := namespaces[statT.Ino]; !ok {
-			namespaces[statT.Ino] = struct{}{}
-			readFile(filepath.Join(procRoot, dirName, "/net/tcp"), buf)
+		hasConns, ok := namespaces[statT.Ino]
+		if !ok {
+			read, err := readFile(filepath.Join(procRoot, dirName, "/net/tcp"), buf)
+			hasConns = err == nil && read > 0
+			namespaces[statT.Ino] = hasConns
+		}
+		if !hasConns {
+			return
 		}
 
 		fds, err := fs.ReadDirNames(fdBase)
@@ -50,6 +55,7 @@ func walkProcPid(buf *bytes.Buffer, walker process.Walker) (map[uint64]Proc, err
 			// Process is be gone by now, or we don't have access.
 			return
 		}
+		var proc *Proc
 		for _, fd := range fds {
 			// Direct use of syscall.Stat() to save garbage.
 			err = fs.Stat(filepath.Join(fdBase, fd), &statT)
@@ -61,11 +67,13 @@ func walkProcPid(buf *bytes.Buffer, walker process.Walker) (map[uint64]Proc, err
 			if statT.Mode&syscall.S_IFMT != syscall.S_IFSOCK {
 				continue
 			}
-
-			res[statT.Ino] = Proc{
-				PID:  uint(p.PID),
-				Name: p.Comm,
+			if proc == nil {
+				proc = &Proc{
+					PID:  uint(p.PID),
+					Name: p.Comm,
+				}
 			}
+			res[statT.Ino] = proc
 		}
 	})
 
@@ -75,12 +83,11 @@ func walkProcPid(buf *bytes.Buffer, walker process.Walker) (map[uint64]Proc, err
 // readFile reads an arbitrary file into a buffer. It's a variable so it can
 // be overwritten for benchmarks. That's bad practice and we should change it
 // to be a dependency.
-var readFile = func(filename string, buf *bytes.Buffer) error {
+var readFile = func(filename string, buf *bytes.Buffer) (int64, error) {
 	f, err := fs.Open(filename)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return -1, err
 	}
-	_, err = buf.ReadFrom(f)
-	f.Close()
-	return err
+	defer f.Close()
+	return buf.ReadFrom(f)
 }
diff --git a/probe/endpoint/procspy/proc_internal_test.go b/probe/endpoint/procspy/proc_internal_test.go
index 4ebd00552..19c9aa381 100644
--- a/probe/endpoint/procspy/proc_internal_test.go
+++ b/probe/endpoint/procspy/proc_internal_test.go
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ var mockFS = fs.Dir("",
 					FStat: syscall.Stat_t{},
 				},
 			),
+			fs.Dir("net",
+				fs.File{
+					FName:     "tcp",
+					FContents: "I'm a little teapot",
+				},
+			),
 			fs.File{
 				FName:     "stat",
 				FContents: "1 na R 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1",
@@ -50,7 +56,7 @@ func TestWalkProcPid(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	want := map[uint64]Proc{
+	want := map[uint64]*Proc{
 		45: {
 			PID:  1,
 			Name: "foo",
diff --git a/probe/endpoint/procspy/spy_linux.go b/probe/endpoint/procspy/spy_linux.go
index 29634edb0..68b0d7c0b 100644
--- a/probe/endpoint/procspy/spy_linux.go
+++ b/probe/endpoint/procspy/spy_linux.go
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ var bufPool = sync.Pool{
 type pnConnIter struct {
 	pn    *ProcNet
 	buf   *bytes.Buffer
-	procs map[uint64]Proc
+	procs map[uint64]*Proc
 }
 
 func (c *pnConnIter) Next() *Connection {
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ func (c *pnConnIter) Next() *Connection {
 		return nil
 	}
 	if proc, ok := c.procs[n.inode]; ok {
-		n.Proc = proc
+		n.Proc = *proc
 	}
 	return n
 }
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ var cbConnections = func(processes bool, walker process.Walker) (ConnIter, error
 	buf := bufPool.Get().(*bytes.Buffer)
 	buf.Reset()
 
-	var procs map[uint64]Proc
+	var procs map[uint64]*Proc
 	if processes {
 		var err error
 		if procs, err = walkProcPid(buf, walker); err != nil {