Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for avoiding out of order uplink data reception upon data radio bearer (DRB) release or quality of service (QoS) flow addition. An exemplary method that may be performed by a user equipment (UE), includes obtaining an indication that a first data radio bearer (DRB) is released or handed over to a second DRB, wherein a first mapping maps a first quality of service (QoS) flow to the first DRB; obtaining a second mapping that maps the first QoS flow to a second DRB; editing service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) headers of uplink protocol data units (PDUs) in an uplink transmission buffer associated with the first DRB, based on a difference between a first configuration of the first DRB and a second configuration of the second DRB; and transmitting the uplink PDUs via the second DRB.