diff --git a/pkg/testing/fixture.go b/pkg/testing/fixture.go
index e724929fc40..38f2f743720 100644
--- a/pkg/testing/fixture.go
+++ b/pkg/testing/fixture.go
@@ -860,6 +860,63 @@ func (f *Fixture) ExecStatus(ctx context.Context, opts ...statusOpt) (AgentStatu
 	}
 }
 
+// ExecStatusRaw executes `elastic-agent status --output=json`.
+//
+// Returns the output parsed as map[string]any and the error from the execution. Keep in mind the agent exits with status 1 if it's
+// unhealthy, but it still outputs the status successfully. This call does require that the Elastic Agent is running
+// and communication over the control protocol is working.
+//
+// By default, retry logic is applied. Use WithNoRetry to disable this behavior. WithRetryTimeout and WithRetryInterval
+// can be used to adjust the retry logic timing. The default retry timeout is one minute and the default retry
+// interval is one second.
+//
+// An empty AgentStatusOutput and non nil error means the output could not be parsed. As long as we get some output,
+// we don't return any error. It should work with any 8.6+ agent
+func (f *Fixture) ExecStatusRaw(ctx context.Context, opts ...statusOpt) (map[string]any, error) {
+	var opt statusOpts
+	opt.retryTimeout = 1 * time.Minute
+	opt.retryInterval = 1 * time.Second
+	for _, o := range opts {
+		o(&opt)
+	}
+
+	var cancel context.CancelFunc
+	if opt.noRetry || opt.retryTimeout == 0 {
+		ctx, cancel = context.WithCancel(ctx)
+	} else {
+		ctx, cancel = context.WithTimeout(ctx, opt.retryTimeout)
+	}
+	defer cancel()
+
+	var lastErr error
+	for {
+		if ctx.Err() != nil {
+			if errors.Is(ctx.Err(), context.DeadlineExceeded) && lastErr != nil {
+				// return the last observed error
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("agent status returned an error: %w", lastErr)
+			}
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("agent status failed: %w", ctx.Err())
+		}
+		out, err := f.Exec(ctx, []string{"status", "--output", "json"}, opt.cmdOptions...)
+		status := map[string]any{}
+		if uerr := json.Unmarshal(out, &status); uerr != nil {
+			// unmarshal error means that json was not outputted due to a communication error
+			lastErr = fmt.Errorf("could not unmarshal agent status output: %w:\n%s", errors.Join(uerr, err), out)
+		} else if len(status) == 0 {
+			// still not correct try again for a successful status
+			lastErr = fmt.Errorf("agent status output is empty: %w", err)
+		} else {
+			return status, nil
+		}
+
+		if opt.noRetry {
+			return status, lastErr
+		}
+
+		sleepFor(ctx, opt.retryInterval)
+	}
+}
+
 // ExecInspect executes to inspect subcommand on the prepared Elastic Agent binary.
 // It returns the parsed output and the error from the execution or an empty
 // AgentInspectOutput and the unmarshalling error if it cannot unmarshal the
diff --git a/testing/integration/ess/proxy_url_test.go b/testing/integration/ess/proxy_url_test.go
index 3af49bb4ec2..43006ee2855 100644
--- a/testing/integration/ess/proxy_url_test.go
+++ b/testing/integration/ess/proxy_url_test.go
@@ -824,8 +824,6 @@ func TestFleetDownloadProxyURL(t *testing.T) {
 		Sudo:  true,
 	})
 
-	t.Skip("Flaky test, see https://github.com/elastic/elastic-agent/issues/11796#issuecomment-3667342065")
-
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	kibClient := info.KibanaClient
 	fleetServerURL, err := fleettools.DefaultURL(ctx, kibClient)
@@ -948,10 +946,12 @@ func TestFleetDownloadProxyURL(t *testing.T) {
 
 	t.Log("Ensure upgrade has failed")
 	require.EventuallyWithT(t, func(c *assert.CollectT) {
-		agent, err := kibClient.GetAgent(ctx, kibana.GetAgentRequest{ID: agentID})
+		status, err := startFixture.ExecStatusRaw(ctx)
 		require.NoError(c, err)
-		require.NotNil(c, agent.UpgradeDetails)
-		require.Equal(c, "UPG_FAILED", agent.UpgradeDetails.State)
+		require.NotNil(c, status["upgrade_details"], "Agent status does not contain upgrade_details.")
+		upgradeDetails, ok := status["upgrade_details"].(map[string]any)
+		require.True(t, ok, "expected upgrade_details to be an object, got type: %T", status["upgrade_details"])
+		require.Equal(c, "UPG_FAILED", upgradeDetails["state"])
 	}, time.Minute*5, time.Second, "Unable to verify that upgrade has failed.")
 
 	proxy := proxytest.New(t,
@@ -997,9 +997,9 @@ func TestFleetDownloadProxyURL(t *testing.T) {
 
 	t.Log("Ensure upgrade starts")
 	require.EventuallyWithT(t, func(c *assert.CollectT) {
-		agent, err := kibClient.GetAgent(ctx, kibana.GetAgentRequest{ID: agentID})
+		status, err := startFixture.ExecStatusRaw(ctx)
 		require.NoError(c, err)
-		require.NotNil(c, agent.UpgradeDetails)
+		require.NotNil(c, status["upgrade_details"], "Agent status does not contain upgrade_details.")
 	}, time.Minute*5, time.Second, "Unable to verify that upgrade details appear.")
 
 	t.Log("Waiting for upgrade watcher to start...")