diff --git a/internal/enginelocate/iplookup.go b/internal/enginelocate/iplookup.go
index 42c6411f74..3693b0a112 100644
--- a/internal/enginelocate/iplookup.go
+++ b/internal/enginelocate/iplookup.go
@@ -77,13 +77,21 @@ func makeSlice() []method {
 	return ret
 }
 
+func contextForIPLookupWithTimeout(ctx context.Context) (context.Context, context.CancelFunc) {
+	// TODO(https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2551): we must enforce a timeout this
+	// large to ensure we give all resolvers a chance to run. We set this value as part of
+	// an hotfix. The above mentioned issue explains how to improve the situation and
+	// avoid the need of setting such large timeouts here.
+	const timeout = 45 * time.Second
+	return context.WithTimeout(ctx, timeout)
+}
+
 func (c ipLookupClient) doWithCustomFunc(
 	ctx context.Context, fn lookupFunc,
 ) (string, error) {
-	// Reliability fix: let these mechanisms timeout earlier.
-	const timeout = 7 * time.Second
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, timeout)
+	ctx, cancel := contextForIPLookupWithTimeout(ctx)
 	defer cancel()
+
 	// Implementation note: we MUST use an HTTP client that we're
 	// sure IS NOT using any proxy. To this end, we construct a
 	// client ourself that we know is not proxied.
diff --git a/internal/enginelocate/iplookup_test.go b/internal/enginelocate/iplookup_test.go
index e3c11d6935..f8c171c6ce 100644
--- a/internal/enginelocate/iplookup_test.go
+++ b/internal/enginelocate/iplookup_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"net"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/apex/log"
 	"github.com/ooni/probe-cli/v3/internal/model"
@@ -55,3 +56,19 @@ func TestIPLookupInvalidIP(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("expected the default IP here")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestContextForIPLookupWithTimeout(t *testing.T) {
+	now := time.Now()
+	ctx, cancel := contextForIPLookupWithTimeout(context.Background())
+	defer cancel()
+	deadline, okay := ctx.Deadline()
+	if !okay {
+		t.Fatal("the context does not have a deadline")
+	}
+	delta := deadline.Sub(now)
+	// Note: super conservative check. Assume it may take up to five seconds
+	// for the code to create a context, which is totally unrealistic.
+	if delta < 40*time.Second {
+		t.Fatal("the deadline is too short")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/enginelocate/stun.go b/internal/enginelocate/stun.go
index b0600b65e5..848e29a83d 100644
--- a/internal/enginelocate/stun.go
+++ b/internal/enginelocate/stun.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ func stunNewClient(conn net.Conn) (stunClient, error) {
 
 func stunIPLookup(ctx context.Context, config stunConfig) (string, error) {
 	config.Logger.Debugf("STUNIPLookup: start using %s", config.Endpoint)
+
 	ip, err := func() (string, error) {
 		dialer := config.Dialer
 		if dialer == nil {
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ func stunIPLookup(ctx context.Context, config stunConfig) (string, error) {
 			return model.DefaultProbeIP, ctx.Err()
 		}
 	}()
+
 	if err != nil {
 		config.Logger.Debugf("STUNIPLookup: failure using %s: %+v", config.Endpoint, err)
 		return model.DefaultProbeIP, err
diff --git a/internal/engineresolver/doc.go b/internal/engineresolver/doc.go
index a1681fc640..c0cdb2d990 100644
--- a/internal/engineresolver/doc.go
+++ b/internal/engineresolver/doc.go
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@
 // have any preferential ordering. The initial resolutions may be slower
 // if there are many issues with resolvers.
 //
-// The system resolver is given the lowest priority at the beginning
-// but it will of course be the most popular resolver if anything else
+// The system resolver is given intermediate priority at the beginning (i.e.,
+// 0.5) but it will of course be the most popular resolver if anything else
 // is failing us. (We will still occasionally probe for other working
 // resolvers and increase their score on success.)
 //
diff --git a/internal/engineresolver/resolver.go b/internal/engineresolver/resolver.go
index 4647061d70..51ddf5f2a7 100644
--- a/internal/engineresolver/resolver.go
+++ b/internal/engineresolver/resolver.go
@@ -109,6 +109,16 @@ func (r *Resolver) LookupHost(ctx context.Context, hostname string) ([]string, e
 			r.logger().Infof("sessionresolver: skipping with proxy: %+v", e)
 			continue // we cannot proxy this URL so ignore it
 		}
+
+		// Hotfix: if the context has been canceled from the outside avoid
+		// doing a dnslookup, which would mark the resolver as not WAI.
+		//
+		// See https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2544
+		if err := ctx.Err(); err != nil {
+			me.Add(newErrWrapper(err, e.URL))
+			continue
+		}
+
 		addrs, err := r.lookupHost(ctx, e, hostname)
 		if err == nil {
 			return addrs, nil
diff --git a/internal/engineresolver/resolver_test.go b/internal/engineresolver/resolver_test.go
index 5565dfc138..6db180ab0f 100644
--- a/internal/engineresolver/resolver_test.go
+++ b/internal/engineresolver/resolver_test.go
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func TestAddressWorks(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestTypicalUsageWithFailure(t *testing.T) {
+func TestResolverLookupHostUsingACanceledContext(t *testing.T) {
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	cancel() // fail immediately
 	reso := &Resolver{KVStore: &kvstore.Memory{}}
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ func TestTypicalUsageWithFailure(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("cannot convert error")
 	}
 	for _, child := range me.Children {
+
 		// net.DNSError does not include the underlying error
 		// but just a string representing the error. This
 		// means that we need to go down hunting what's the
@@ -54,7 +55,7 @@ func TestTypicalUsageWithFailure(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			var ew *errWrapper
 			if !errors.As(child, &ew) {
-				t.Fatal("not an instance of errwrapper")
+				t.Fatalf("not an instance of errwrapper: '%v' [%T]", child, child)
 			}
 			var de *net.DNSError
 			if errors.As(ew, &de) {
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ func TestTypicalUsageWithFailure(t *testing.T) {
 				continue
 			}
 		}
+
 		// otherwise just unwrap and check whether it's
 		// a real context.Canceled error.
 		if !errors.Is(child, context.Canceled) {
@@ -73,9 +75,22 @@ func TestTypicalUsageWithFailure(t *testing.T) {
 	if addrs != nil {
 		t.Fatal("expected nil here")
 	}
-	if len(reso.res) < 1 {
-		t.Fatal("expected to see some resolvers here")
+
+	// Since https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/pull/1351 we avoid
+	// constructing any resolver if we start running with a canceled context
+	// because of https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2544.
+	//
+	// In other words, as long as we see zero here we can be confident
+	// that we're not creating a resolver if the context has been canceled,
+	// which should imply we're not changing its score.
+	//
+	// Heavier refactoring of this package should probably more aggressively
+	// ensure that we're not changing the score, but for now this test
+	// is sufficient given that we are committing an hotfix.
+	if len(reso.res) != 0 {
+		t.Fatal("expected to see no resolvers here")
 	}
+
 	reso.CloseIdleConnections()
 	if len(reso.res) != 0 {
 		t.Fatal("expected to see no resolvers after CloseIdleConnections")
diff --git a/internal/engineresolver/resolvermaker.go b/internal/engineresolver/resolvermaker.go
index 6f5fe363bd..5f42acf511 100644
--- a/internal/engineresolver/resolvermaker.go
+++ b/internal/engineresolver/resolvermaker.go
@@ -43,21 +43,29 @@ var allmakers = []*resolvermaker{{
 }}
 
 // allbyurl contains all the resolvermakers by URL
-var allbyurl map[string]*resolvermaker
+var allbyurl = resolverMakeInitialState()
 
-// init fills allbyname and gives a nonzero initial score
+// resolverMakeInitialState initializes the initial
+// state by giving a nonzero initial score
 // to all resolvers except for the system resolver. We set
-// the system resolver score to zero, so that it's less
+// the system resolver score to be 0.5, so that it's less
 // likely than other resolvers in this list.
-func init() {
-	allbyurl = make(map[string]*resolvermaker)
+//
+// We used to set this value to 0, but this proved to
+// create issues when it was the only available resolver,
+// see https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2544.
+func resolverMakeInitialState() map[string]*resolvermaker {
+	output := make(map[string]*resolvermaker)
 	rng := rand.New(rand.NewSource(time.Now().UnixNano()))
 	for _, e := range allmakers {
-		allbyurl[e.url] = e
+		output[e.url] = e
 		if e.url != systemResolverURL {
 			e.score = rng.Float64()
+		} else {
+			e.score = 0.5
 		}
 	}
+	return output
 }
 
 // logger returns the configured logger or a default
diff --git a/internal/engineresolver/resolvermaker_test.go b/internal/engineresolver/resolvermaker_test.go
index 9889c0f977..d2de4e8a5c 100644
--- a/internal/engineresolver/resolvermaker_test.go
+++ b/internal/engineresolver/resolvermaker_test.go
@@ -121,3 +121,19 @@ func TestGetResolverHTTP3(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("expected true")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestResolverMakeInitialState(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("the system resolver has a default score of 0.5", func(t *testing.T) {
+		state := resolverMakeInitialState()
+		var okay bool
+		for URL, entry := range state {
+			t.Logf("entry: %v %v", URL, *entry)
+			if URL == systemResolverURL && entry.score == 0.5 {
+				okay = true
+			}
+		}
+		if !okay {
+			t.Fatal("expected to see the system resolver with 0.5 as its score")
+		}
+	})
+}