diff --git a/Documentation/Release-Notes/generate_release_notes.sh b/Documentation/Release-Notes/generate_release_notes.sh
index a2b14160b..7c92ce782 100755
--- a/Documentation/Release-Notes/generate_release_notes.sh
+++ b/Documentation/Release-Notes/generate_release_notes.sh
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ For more information, please refer to the [Limitations](../About/Limitations.md)
 
 RPM and Debian packages are provided for supported the Linux distributions.
 
-Packages can be downloaded [here](https://mariadb.com/downloads/mariadb-tx/maxscale).
+Packages can be downloaded [here](https://mariadb.com/downloads/#mariadb_platform-mariadb_maxscale).
 
 ## Source Code
 
diff --git a/include/maxscale/queryclassifier.hh b/include/maxscale/queryclassifier.hh
index e25518121..d8b9f146e 100644
--- a/include/maxscale/queryclassifier.hh
+++ b/include/maxscale/queryclassifier.hh
@@ -415,5 +415,8 @@ private:
     RouteInfo         m_route_info;
     bool              m_trx_is_read_only;
     bool              m_ps_continuation;
+
+    uint32_t m_prev_ps_id = 0;      /**< For direct PS execution, storest latest prepared PS ID.
+                                     * https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/com_stmt_execute/#statement-id **/
 };
 }
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt b/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt
index bca607f34..0fa9afec3 100644
--- a/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -994,6 +994,9 @@ add_test_executable(mxs2521_double_exec.cpp mxs2521_double_exec mxs2521_double_e
 # MXS-2572: Add smartrouter tests.
 add_test_executable(sr_basics.cpp sr_basics sr_basics LABELS REPL_BACKEND)
 
+# MXS-2490: Direct execution doesn't work with MaxScale
+add_test_executable(mxs2490_ps_execute_direct.cpp mxs2490_ps_execute_direct replication LABELS REPL_BACKEND readwritesplit)
+
 ############################################
 # BEGIN: binlogrouter and avrorouter tests #
 ############################################
diff --git a/maxscale-system-test/mxs2490_ps_execute_direct.cpp b/maxscale-system-test/mxs2490_ps_execute_direct.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6e5735ae5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maxscale-system-test/mxs2490_ps_execute_direct.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/**
+ * MXS-2490: Unknown prepared statement handler (0) given to mysqld_stmt_execute
+ *
+ * See:
+ *
+ * https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/mariadb_stmt_execute_direct/
+ * https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/com_stmt_execute/#statement-id
+ */
+
+#include "testconnections.h"
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
+{
+    TestConnections test(argc, argv);
+
+    test.set_timeout(30);
+    test.maxscales->connect();
+
+    MYSQL_STMT* stmt = mysql_stmt_init(test.maxscales->conn_rwsplit[0]);
+    std::string query = "SELECT user FROM mysql.user";
+    test.expect(mariadb_stmt_execute_direct(stmt, query.c_str(), query.length()) == 0,
+                "execute_direct should work: %s", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
+    mysql_stmt_close(stmt);
+
+    return test.global_result;
+}
diff --git a/maxutils/maxbase/src/stacktrace.cc b/maxutils/maxbase/src/stacktrace.cc
index 28ce11380..b4aa8a49d 100644
--- a/maxutils/maxbase/src/stacktrace.cc
+++ b/maxutils/maxbase/src/stacktrace.cc
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ static void get_command_output(char* output, size_t size, const char* format, ..
     }
 }
 
-static void extract_file_and_line(const char* symbols, char* cmd, size_t size)
+static void extract_file_and_line(char* symbols, char* cmd, size_t size)
 {
     const char* filename_end = strchr(symbols, '(');
     const char* symname_end = strchr(symbols, ')');
@@ -116,6 +116,30 @@ static void extract_file_and_line(const char* symbols, char* cmd, size_t size)
             snprintf(symname, sizeof(symname), "%.*s", (int)(symname_end - symname_start), symname_start);
             get_command_output(cmd, size, "addr2line -e %s %s", filename, symname);
         }
+
+        const char prefix[] = "MaxScale/";
+
+        // Remove common source prefix
+        if (char* str = strstr(cmd, prefix))
+        {
+            str += sizeof(prefix) - 1;
+            memmove(cmd, str, strlen(cmd) - (str - cmd) + 1);
+        }
+
+        // Strip the directory name from the symbols (could this be useful?)
+        if (char* str = strrchr(symbols, '/'))
+        {
+            ++str;
+            memmove(symbols, str, strlen(symbols) - (str - symbols) + 1);
+        }
+
+        // Remove the address where the symbol is in memory (i.e. the [0xdeadbeef] that follows the
+        // (main+0xa1) part), we're only interested where it is in the library.
+        if (char* str = strchr(symbols, '['))
+        {
+            str--;
+            *str = '\0';
+        }
     }
 }
 }
@@ -129,12 +153,21 @@ void dump_stacktrace(std::function<void(const char*, const char*)> handler)
     int count = backtrace(addrs, 128);
     char** symbols = backtrace_symbols(addrs, count);
 
+    int rc = system("/bin/test -f /bin/nm -a -f /bin/addr2line");
+    bool do_extract = WIFEXITED(rc) && WEXITSTATUS(rc) == 0;
+
     if (symbols)
     {
-        for (int n = 0; n < count; n++)
+        // Skip first five frames, they are inside the stacktrace printing function and signal handlers
+        for (int n = 4; n < count; n++)
         {
-            char cmd[PATH_MAX + 1024] = "<not found>";
-            extract_file_and_line(symbols[n], cmd, sizeof(cmd));
+            char cmd[PATH_MAX + 1024] = "<binutils not installed>";
+
+            if (do_extract)
+            {
+                extract_file_and_line(symbols[n], cmd, sizeof(cmd));
+            }
+
             handler(symbols[n], cmd);
         }
         free(symbols);
diff --git a/server/core/dcb.cc b/server/core/dcb.cc
index e940962d4..69da86ff9 100644
--- a/server/core/dcb.cc
+++ b/server/core/dcb.cc
@@ -958,6 +958,8 @@ static void dcb_log_write_failure(DCB* dcb, GWBUF* queue, int eno)
  */
 int dcb_drain_writeq(DCB* dcb)
 {
+    mxb_assert(dcb->owner == RoutingWorker::get_current());
+
     if (dcb->ssl_read_want_write)
     {
         /** The SSL library needs to write more data */
diff --git a/server/core/queryclassifier.cc b/server/core/queryclassifier.cc
index ab9d97b20..99ba0d561 100644
--- a/server/core/queryclassifier.cc
+++ b/server/core/queryclassifier.cc
@@ -644,6 +644,13 @@ uint32_t QueryClassifier::ps_id_internal_get(GWBUF* pBuffer)
 
     // All COM_STMT type statements store the ID in the same place
     uint32_t external_id = mysql_extract_ps_id(pBuffer);
+
+    if (external_id == 0xffffffff)
+    {
+        // "Direct execution" that refers to the latest prepared statement
+        external_id = m_prev_ps_id;
+    }
+
     auto it = m_ps_handles.find(external_id);
 
     if (it != m_ps_handles.end())
@@ -663,6 +670,7 @@ uint32_t QueryClassifier::ps_id_internal_get(GWBUF* pBuffer)
 void QueryClassifier::ps_store_response(uint32_t internal_id, GWBUF* buffer)
 {
     auto external_id = qc_mysql_extract_ps_id(buffer);
+    m_prev_ps_id = external_id;
     m_ps_handles[external_id] = internal_id;
 
     if (auto param_count = qc_extract_ps_param_count(buffer))
diff --git a/server/core/service.cc b/server/core/service.cc
index 84703a247..794036b6d 100644
--- a/server/core/service.cc
+++ b/server/core/service.cc
@@ -1091,8 +1091,10 @@ bool Service::refresh_users()
 
     MXS_CONFIG* config = config_get_global_options();
 
-    /* Check if refresh rate limit has been exceeded */
-    if (now < m_rate_limits[self].last + config->users_refresh_time)
+    /* Check if refresh rate limit has been exceeded. Also check whether we are in the middle of starting up.
+     * If so, allow repeated reloading of users. */
+    if (now > maxscale_started() + config->users_refresh_time
+        && now < m_rate_limits[self].last + config->users_refresh_time)
     {
         if (!m_rate_limits[self].warned)
         {
diff --git a/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.cc b/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.cc
index 39a00c0b5..66c9c62cd 100644
--- a/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.cc
+++ b/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.cc
@@ -147,20 +147,15 @@ int32_t RWSplitSession::routeQuery(GWBUF* querybuf)
     else
     {
         // Already busy executing a query, put the query in a queue and route it later
-        mxb_assert(m_expected_responses > 0 || !m_query_queue.empty());
         MXS_INFO("Storing query (len: %d cmd: %0x), expecting %d replies to current command: %s",
                  gwbuf_length(querybuf), GWBUF_DATA(querybuf)[4], m_expected_responses,
                  mxs::extract_sql(querybuf, 1024).c_str());
+        mxb_assert(m_expected_responses > 0 || !m_query_queue.empty());
 
         m_query_queue.emplace_back(querybuf);
         querybuf = NULL;
         rval = 1;
         mxb_assert(m_expected_responses != 0);
-
-        if (m_expected_responses == 0 && !route_stored_query())
-        {
-            rval = 0;
-        }
     }
 
     if (querybuf != NULL)
diff --git a/test/docker-compose.yml b/test/docker-compose.yml
index da79ca1cf..bd2f4c92b 100644
--- a/test/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/test/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 version: '2'
 services:
     server1:
-        image: mariadb:10.2
+        image: mariadb:10.3
         network_mode: "host"
         container_name: server1
         environment:
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ services:
         command: mysqld --log-bin=binlog --binlog-format=ROW --server-id=3000 --port=3000 --log-slave-updates
 
     server2:
-        image: mariadb:10.2
+        image: mariadb:10.3
         container_name: server2
         network_mode: "host"
         environment:
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ services:
         command: mysqld --log-bin=binlog --binlog-format=ROW --server-id=3001 --port=3001 --log-slave-updates
 
     server3:
-        image: mariadb:10.2
+        image: mariadb:10.3
         container_name: server3
         network_mode: "host"
         environment:
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ services:
         command: mysqld --log-bin=binlog --binlog-format=ROW --server-id=3002 --port=3002 --log-slave-updates
 
     server4:
-        image: mariadb:10.2
+        image: mariadb:10.3
         container_name: server4
         network_mode: "host"
         environment: