diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 1e1c902df0e1..d0d439a65b94 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -9401,9 +9401,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "litep2p"
-version = "0.8.0"
+version = "0.8.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "7286b1971f85d1d60be40ef49e81c1f3b5a0d8b83cfa02ab53591cdacae22901"
+checksum = "5b67484b8ac41e1cfdf012f65fa81e88c2ef5f8a7d6dec0e2678c2d06dc04530"
 dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
  "bs58",
@@ -17022,7 +17022,7 @@ checksum = "f8650aabb6c35b860610e9cff5dc1af886c9e25073b7b1712a68972af4281302"
 dependencies = [
  "bytes",
  "heck 0.5.0",
- "itertools 0.12.1",
+ "itertools 0.13.0",
  "log",
  "multimap",
  "once_cell",
@@ -17068,7 +17068,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "acf0c195eebb4af52c752bec4f52f645da98b6e92077a04110c7f349477ae5ac"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
- "itertools 0.12.1",
+ "itertools 0.13.0",
  "proc-macro2 1.0.86",
  "quote 1.0.37",
  "syn 2.0.87",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index c00276724333..be3bce0f46f2 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -848,7 +848,7 @@ linked-hash-map = { version = "0.5.4" }
 linked_hash_set = { version = "0.1.4" }
 linregress = { version = "0.5.1" }
 lite-json = { version = "0.2.0", default-features = false }
-litep2p = { version = "0.8.0", features = ["websocket"] }
+litep2p = { version = "0.8.1", features = ["websocket"] }
 log = { version = "0.4.22", default-features = false }
 macro_magic = { version = "0.5.1" }
 maplit = { version = "1.0.2" }
diff --git a/prdoc/pr_6484.prdoc b/prdoc/pr_6484.prdoc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c212692e6ab4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/prdoc/pr_6484.prdoc
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+title: Update litep2p network backend to version 0.8.1
+
+doc:
+  - audience: [ Node Dev, Node Operator ]
+    description: |
+      Release 0.8.1 of litep2p includes critical fixes to further enhance the stability and performance of the litep2p network backend.
+
+crates:
+  - name: sc-network
+    bump: patch
diff --git a/substrate/client/network/src/litep2p/mod.rs b/substrate/client/network/src/litep2p/mod.rs
index 87b992423674..4c0a8310fca7 100644
--- a/substrate/client/network/src/litep2p/mod.rs
+++ b/substrate/client/network/src/litep2p/mod.rs
@@ -1074,7 +1074,13 @@ impl<B: BlockT + 'static, H: ExHashT> NetworkBackend<B, H> for Litep2pNetworkBac
 							metrics.pending_connections_errors_total.with_label_values(&["transport-errors"]).inc();
 						}
 					}
-					_ => {}
+					None => {
+						log::error!(
+								target: LOG_TARGET,
+								"Litep2p backend terminated"
+						);
+						return
+					}
 				},
 			}
 		}