diff --git a/src/net.h b/src/net.h
--- a/src/net.h
+++ b/src/net.h
@@ -964,7 +964,6 @@
     RecursiveMutex cs_inventory;
 
     struct TxRelay {
-        TxRelay() { pfilter = std::make_unique<CBloomFilter>(); }
         mutable RecursiveMutex cs_filter;
         // We use fRelayTxes for two purposes -
         // a) it allows us to not relay tx invs before receiving the peer's
@@ -973,7 +972,7 @@
         //    relay tx invs unless it loads a bloom filter.
         bool fRelayTxes GUARDED_BY(cs_filter){false};
         std::unique_ptr<CBloomFilter> pfilter PT_GUARDED_BY(cs_filter)
-            GUARDED_BY(cs_filter);
+            GUARDED_BY(cs_filter){nullptr};
 
         mutable RecursiveMutex cs_tx_inventory;
         CRollingBloomFilter filterInventoryKnown GUARDED_BY(cs_tx_inventory){
diff --git a/src/net_processing.cpp b/src/net_processing.cpp
--- a/src/net_processing.cpp
+++ b/src/net_processing.cpp
@@ -4245,7 +4245,7 @@
         }
         LOCK(pfrom.m_tx_relay->cs_filter);
         if (pfrom.GetLocalServices() & NODE_BLOOM) {
-            pfrom.m_tx_relay->pfilter.reset(new CBloomFilter());
+            pfrom.m_tx_relay->pfilter = nullptr;
         }
         pfrom.m_tx_relay->fRelayTxes = true;
         return;
diff --git a/test/functional/p2p_filter.py b/test/functional/p2p_filter.py
--- a/test/functional/p2p_filter.py
+++ b/test/functional/p2p_filter.py
@@ -7,12 +7,13 @@
 """
 
 from test_framework.messages import (
+    CInv,
     MSG_BLOCK,
     MSG_FILTERED_BLOCK,
-    msg_getdata,
-    msg_filterload,
     msg_filteradd,
     msg_filterclear,
+    msg_filterload,
+    msg_getdata,
 )
 from test_framework.mininode import P2PInterface
 from test_framework.test_framework import BitcoinTestFramework
@@ -36,8 +37,9 @@
             # inv messages can only contain TX or BLOCK, so translate BLOCK to
             # FILTERED_BLOCK
             if i.type == MSG_BLOCK:
-                i.type = MSG_FILTERED_BLOCK
-            want.inv.append(i)
+                want.inv.append(CInv(MSG_FILTERED_BLOCK, i.hash))
+            else:
+                want.inv.append(i)
         if len(want.inv):
             self.send_message(want)
 
@@ -118,6 +120,25 @@
                 self.nodes[0].getnewaddress(), 7)
             filter_node.wait_for_tx(txid)
 
+        self.log.info(
+            'Check that request for filtered blocks is ignored if no filter'
+            ' is set')
+        filter_node.merkleblock_received = False
+        filter_node.tx_received = False
+        with self.nodes[0].assert_debug_log(expected_msgs=['received getdata']):
+            block_hash = self.nodes[0].generatetoaddress(
+                1, self.nodes[0].getnewaddress())[0]
+            filter_node.wait_for_inv([CInv(MSG_BLOCK, int(block_hash, 16))])
+            filter_node.sync_with_ping()
+            assert not filter_node.merkleblock_received
+            assert not filter_node.tx_received
+
+        self.log.info(
+            'Check that sending "filteradd" if no filter is set is treated as '
+            'misbehavior')
+        with self.nodes[0].assert_debug_log(['Misbehaving']):
+            filter_node.send_and_ping(msg_filteradd(data=b'letsmisbehave'))
+
         self.log.info(
             "Check that division-by-zero remote crash bug [CVE-2013-5700] is fixed")
         filter_node.send_and_ping(msg_filterload(data=b'', nHashFuncs=1))