diff --git a/localstack-core/localstack/services/lambda_/event_source_mapping/pollers/stream_poller.py b/localstack-core/localstack/services/lambda_/event_source_mapping/pollers/stream_poller.py
index 7c40f563ef2f1..7a2980e1891ca 100644
--- a/localstack-core/localstack/services/lambda_/event_source_mapping/pollers/stream_poller.py
+++ b/localstack-core/localstack/services/lambda_/event_source_mapping/pollers/stream_poller.py
@@ -202,7 +202,9 @@ def poll_events_from_shard(self, shard_id: str, shard_iterator: str):
         attempts = 0
         error_payload = {}
 
-        boff = ExponentialBackoff(max_retries=attempts)
+        max_retries = self.stream_parameters.get("MaximumRetryAttempts", -1)
+        # NOTE: max_retries == 0 means exponential backoff is disabled
+        boff = ExponentialBackoff(max_retries=max_retries)
         while (
             not abort_condition
             and not self.max_retries_exceeded(attempts)