diff --git a/client/internal/engine_lazy_exclude_test.go b/client/internal/engine_lazy_exclude_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cfe405602
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/internal/engine_lazy_exclude_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+package internal
+
+import (
+	"net/netip"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
+	firewallManager "github.com/netbirdio/netbird/client/firewall/manager"
+	mgmProto "github.com/netbirdio/netbird/shared/management/proto"
+)
+
+// TestToExcludedLazyPeers_ForwardTarget guards a regression: AllowedIPs arrive as
+// CIDR (a peer's overlay IP is a /32), so comparing them for equality against
+// ForwardRule.TranslatedAddress.String() (unmasked) never matched and the
+// forward-target peer was never excluded from lazy connections.
+func TestToExcludedLazyPeers_ForwardTarget(t *testing.T) {
+	e := &Engine{}
+
+	const targetPeerKey = "target-peer"
+	peers := []*mgmProto.RemotePeerConfig{
+		{WgPubKey: targetPeerKey, AllowedIps: []string{"100.110.8.145/32"}},
+		{WgPubKey: "other-peer", AllowedIps: []string{"100.110.9.10/32"}},
+	}
+	rules := []firewallManager.ForwardRule{
+		{TranslatedAddress: netip.MustParseAddr("100.110.8.145")},
+	}
+
+	excluded := e.toExcludedLazyPeers(rules, peers)
+
+	require.True(t, excluded[targetPeerKey], "forward-target peer must be excluded from lazy connections")
+	require.False(t, excluded["other-peer"], "non-target peer must not be excluded")
+	require.Len(t, excluded, 1)
+}
+
+func TestToExcludedLazyPeers_NoRules(t *testing.T) {
+	e := &Engine{}
+
+	peers := []*mgmProto.RemotePeerConfig{
+		{WgPubKey: "peer-a", AllowedIps: []string{"100.110.8.145/32"}},
+	}
+
+	excluded := e.toExcludedLazyPeers(nil, peers)
+	require.Empty(t, excluded)
+}