The present application is directed towards systems and methods for systems and methods for handling real-time streaming protocol sessions by an intermediary multi-core system. When a multi-core intermediary receives a setup request for a real-time streaming protocol session, the intermediary processes and forwards the request to a server providing the streaming media. The server sets up an RTSP session and transmits a session identification to the multi-core intermediary. A core of the intermediary receives the transmitted session identification and determines an owner core of the session, based on a hash of the session identification. The core transmits the session information to the determined owner core, which selects two consecutive ports on which to establish listening services. The owner core then notifies all other cores to establish listening services on the same consecutive ports, such that any core that receives an RTSP control message from a client can handle it properly.