diff --git a/src/openvpn/crypto.c b/src/openvpn/crypto.c
index 8f34eaab131..d548c8d4360 100644
--- a/src/openvpn/crypto.c
+++ b/src/openvpn/crypto.c
@@ -94,12 +94,16 @@ openvpn_encrypt_aead(struct buffer *buf, struct buffer work,
             goto err;
         }
 
-        /* Remainder of IV consists of implicit part (unique per session) */
-        ASSERT(buf_write(&iv_buffer, ctx->implicit_iv, ctx->implicit_iv_len));
-        ASSERT(iv_buffer.len == iv_len);
+        /* Write packet id part of IV to work buffer */
+        ASSERT(buf_write(&work, iv, packet_id_size(false)));
+
+        /* This generates the IV by XORing the implicit part of the IV
+         * with the packet id already written to the iv buffer */
+        for (int i = 0; i < iv_len; i++)
+        {
+            iv[i] = iv[i] ^ ctx->implicit_iv[i];
+        }
 
-        /* Write explicit part of IV to work buffer */
-        ASSERT(buf_write(&work, iv, iv_len - ctx->implicit_iv_len));
         dmsg(D_PACKET_CONTENT, "ENCRYPT IV: %s", format_hex(iv, iv_len, 0, &gc));
 
         /* Init cipher_ctx with IV.  key & keylen are already initialized */
@@ -390,16 +394,21 @@ openvpn_decrypt_aead(struct buffer *buf, struct buffer work,
     {
         uint8_t iv[OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH] = { 0 };
         const int iv_len = cipher_ctx_iv_length(ctx->cipher);
-        const size_t packet_iv_len = iv_len - ctx->implicit_iv_len;
+        const size_t packet_iv_len = packet_id_size(false);
 
-        ASSERT(ctx->implicit_iv_len <= iv_len);
-        if (buf->len + ctx->implicit_iv_len < iv_len)
+        if (buf->len < packet_iv_len)
         {
             CRYPT_ERROR("missing IV info");
         }
 
         memcpy(iv, BPTR(buf), packet_iv_len);
-        memcpy(iv + packet_iv_len, ctx->implicit_iv, ctx->implicit_iv_len);
+
+        /* This generates the IV by XORing the implicit part of the IV
+         * with the packet id already written to the iv buffer */
+        for (int i = 0; i < iv_len; i++)
+        {
+            iv[i] = iv[i] ^ ctx->implicit_iv[i];
+        }
 
         dmsg(D_PACKET_CONTENT, "DECRYPT IV: %s", format_hex(iv, iv_len, 0, &gc));
 
@@ -920,7 +929,6 @@ free_key_ctx(struct key_ctx *ctx)
         hmac_ctx_free(ctx->hmac);
         ctx->hmac = NULL;
     }
-    ctx->implicit_iv_len = 0;
 }
 
 void
@@ -1036,18 +1044,15 @@ test_crypto(struct crypto_options *co, struct frame *frame)
         cipher_ctx_t *cipher = co->key_ctx_bi.encrypt.cipher;
         if (cipher_ctx_mode_aead(cipher))
         {
-            size_t impl_iv_len = cipher_ctx_iv_length(cipher) - sizeof(packet_id_type);
             ASSERT(cipher_ctx_iv_length(cipher) <= OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH);
             ASSERT(cipher_ctx_iv_length(cipher) >= OPENVPN_AEAD_MIN_IV_LEN);
 
             /* Generate dummy implicit IV */
             ASSERT(rand_bytes(co->key_ctx_bi.encrypt.implicit_iv,
                               OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH));
-            co->key_ctx_bi.encrypt.implicit_iv_len = impl_iv_len;
 
             memcpy(co->key_ctx_bi.decrypt.implicit_iv,
                    co->key_ctx_bi.encrypt.implicit_iv, OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH);
-            co->key_ctx_bi.decrypt.implicit_iv_len = impl_iv_len;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/openvpn/crypto.h b/src/openvpn/crypto.h
index 074dad68f73..04d7bb2ad08 100644
--- a/src/openvpn/crypto.h
+++ b/src/openvpn/crypto.h
@@ -163,6 +163,17 @@ struct key_ctx
 {
     cipher_ctx_t *cipher;       /**< Generic cipher %context. */
     hmac_ctx_t *hmac;           /**< Generic HMAC %context. */
+    /**
+     * This implicit IV will be always XORed with the packet id that is sent on
+     * the wire to get the IV. For the common AEAD ciphers of AES-GCM and
+     * Chacha20-Poly1305, the length of the IV is 12 bytes (96 bits).
+     *
+     * For non-epoch 32bit packet id AEAD format we set the first 32
+     * bits of implicit_iv to 0.
+     * Xor with the packet id in this case works as concatenation:
+     * after xor the lower 32 bit of the IV are the packet id and
+     * the rest of the IV is from the implicit IV.
+     */
     uint8_t implicit_iv[OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH];
     /**< The implicit part of the IV */
     size_t implicit_iv_len;     /**< The length of implicit_iv */
diff --git a/src/openvpn/ssl.c b/src/openvpn/ssl.c
index 33c22b48373..fcfb3449f19 100644
--- a/src/openvpn/ssl.c
+++ b/src/openvpn/ssl.c
@@ -1542,10 +1542,11 @@ key_ctx_update_implicit_iv(struct key_ctx *ctx, uint8_t *key, size_t key_len)
         size_t impl_iv_len = 0;
         ASSERT(cipher_ctx_iv_length(ctx->cipher) >= OPENVPN_AEAD_MIN_IV_LEN);
         impl_iv_len = cipher_ctx_iv_length(ctx->cipher) - sizeof(packet_id_type);
-        ASSERT(impl_iv_len <= OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH);
+        ASSERT(impl_iv_len + sizeof(packet_id_type) <= OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH);
         ASSERT(impl_iv_len <= key_len);
-        memcpy(ctx->implicit_iv, key, impl_iv_len);
-        ctx->implicit_iv_len = impl_iv_len;
+        CLEAR(ctx->implicit_iv);
+        /* The first bytes of the IV are filled with the packet id */
+        memcpy(ctx->implicit_iv + sizeof(packet_id_type), key, impl_iv_len);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/openvpn/test_ssl.c b/tests/unit_tests/openvpn/test_ssl.c
index a1ca3443740..ae33cc6eb03 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/openvpn/test_ssl.c
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/openvpn/test_ssl.c
@@ -284,18 +284,15 @@ init_implicit_iv(struct crypto_options *co)
 
     if (cipher_ctx_mode_aead(cipher))
     {
-        size_t impl_iv_len = cipher_ctx_iv_length(cipher) - sizeof(packet_id_type);
         ASSERT(cipher_ctx_iv_length(cipher) <= OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH);
         ASSERT(cipher_ctx_iv_length(cipher) >= OPENVPN_AEAD_MIN_IV_LEN);
 
         /* Generate dummy implicit IV */
         ASSERT(rand_bytes(co->key_ctx_bi.encrypt.implicit_iv,
                           OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH));
-        co->key_ctx_bi.encrypt.implicit_iv_len = impl_iv_len;
 
         memcpy(co->key_ctx_bi.decrypt.implicit_iv,
                co->key_ctx_bi.encrypt.implicit_iv, OPENVPN_MAX_IV_LENGTH);
-        co->key_ctx_bi.decrypt.implicit_iv_len = impl_iv_len;
     }
 }