diff --git a/salt/metaproxy/deltaproxy.py b/salt/metaproxy/deltaproxy.py
index cb2b8e2c9a09..b2c3c053e9d5 100644
--- a/salt/metaproxy/deltaproxy.py
+++ b/salt/metaproxy/deltaproxy.py
@@ -463,6 +463,12 @@ async def subproxy_post_master_init(minion_id, uid, opts, main_proxy, main_utils
     )
 
     _proxy_minion = ProxyMinion(proxyopts)
+    # Sub-proxies never run connect_master, so self.tok
+    # is never set by the usual master-connection path.
+    # Initialize to None to prevent AttributeError in
+    # paths that reference self.tok. The tok is
+    # regenerated by the channel layer on send anyway.
+    _proxy_minion.tok = None
     _proxy_minion.proc_dir = salt.minion.get_proc_dir(proxyopts["cachedir"], uid=uid)
 
     # And load the modules