This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatuses, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for wireless communication. In one aspect of the disclosure, a user equipment (UE) is configured to manage a state variable (associated with a radio link control (RLC) entity or a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity) that enables the UE to maintain synchronization with a base station during a communication session. For example, a base station may transmit, to the UE, a control PDU or a synchronization PDU that includes a value of a state variable maintained by a base station to enable the UE to update its state variable to maintain synchronization with the base station. Other aspects and features are also claimed and described.