diff --git a/apps/wolfssh/wolfssh.c b/apps/wolfssh/wolfssh.c
index 79d84cd4..409903e2 100644
--- a/apps/wolfssh/wolfssh.c
+++ b/apps/wolfssh/wolfssh.c
@@ -737,9 +737,12 @@ static THREAD_RET readPeer(void* in)
                         bytes = 0;
                     }
                     /* Back to select(), which is where the owed reply is
-                     * retried. */
-                    if (agentOwed)
+                     * retried. A held status is not an error, so keep the
+                     * outer loop alive. */
+                    if (agentOwed) {
+                        ret = WS_SUCCESS;
                         bytes = 0;
+                    }
                     continue;
                 }
 #endif /* WOLFSSH_AGENT */
diff --git a/examples/client/client.c b/examples/client/client.c
index 04765c52..869ae54a 100644
--- a/examples/client/client.c
+++ b/examples/client/client.c
@@ -562,9 +562,12 @@ static THREAD_RET readPeer(void* in)
                             break;
                         }
                         /* Back to select(), which is where the owed reply
-                         * is retried. */
-                        if (agentOwed)
+                         * is retried. A held status is not an error, so
+                         * keep the outer loop alive. */
+                        if (agentOwed) {
+                            ret = WS_SUCCESS;
                             bytes = 0;
+                        }
                         continue;
                     }
                     #endif /* WOLFSSH_AGENT */