diff --git a/tests/v1/engine/test_async_llm.py b/tests/v1/engine/test_async_llm.py
index 3845d6297a..5dd37a6f7e 100644
--- a/tests/v1/engine/test_async_llm.py
+++ b/tests/v1/engine/test_async_llm.py
@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@
 import asyncio
 import time
 from contextlib import ExitStack
-from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock, call
 
 import pytest
 
+import vllm.v1.engine.async_llm as async_llm_module
 from vllm import SamplingParams
 from vllm.assets.image import ImageAsset
 from vllm.config import VllmConfig
@@ -59,6 +60,49 @@ VISION_PROMPT = {
 }
 
 
+def test_cuda_profiler_requests_reach_engine_core(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    vllm_config = MagicMock()
+    vllm_config.observability_config.otlp_traces_endpoint = None
+    vllm_config.scheduler_config.stream_interval = 1
+    vllm_config.profiler_config.profiler = "cuda"
+    vllm_config.profiler_config.ignore_frontend = False
+
+    renderer = MagicMock()
+    engine_core = MagicMock()
+    engine_core.profile_async = AsyncMock()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        async_llm_module, "maybe_register_config_serialize_by_value", MagicMock()
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        async_llm_module,
+        "load_stat_logger_plugin_factories",
+        MagicMock(return_value=[]),
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        async_llm_module,
+        "renderer_from_config",
+        MagicMock(return_value=renderer),
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(async_llm_module, "InputProcessor", MagicMock())
+    monkeypatch.setattr(async_llm_module, "OutputProcessor", MagicMock())
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        async_llm_module.EngineCoreClient,
+        "make_async_mp_client",
+        MagicMock(return_value=engine_core),
+    )
+
+    engine = AsyncLLM(vllm_config, MagicMock(), log_stats=False)
+
+    async def profile():
+        await engine.start_profile()
+        await engine.stop_profile()
+
+    asyncio.run(profile())
+
+    assert engine.profiler is None
+    engine_core.profile_async.assert_has_awaits([call(True, None), call(False)])
+
+
 async def generate(
     engine: AsyncLLM,
     request_id: str,
diff --git a/vllm/v1/engine/async_llm.py b/vllm/v1/engine/async_llm.py
index cc132afd97..91618c4093 100644
--- a/vllm/v1/engine/async_llm.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/engine/async_llm.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import time
 import warnings
 from collections.abc import AsyncGenerator, Iterable, Mapping
 from copy import copy
-from typing import Any, Optional
+from typing import Any
 
 import vllm.envs as envs
 from vllm import TokensPrompt
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ class AsyncLLM(EngineClient):
         client_addresses: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
         client_count: int = 1,
         client_index: int = 0,
-        profiler: Optional[TorchProfilerWrapper] = None,  # type: ignore # noqa
+        profiler: TorchProfilerWrapper | None = None,
     ) -> None:
         """
         Create an AsyncLLM.
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ class AsyncLLM(EngineClient):
         except RuntimeError:
             pass
 
+        self.profiler = profiler
         if (
             vllm_config.profiler_config.profiler == "torch"
             and not vllm_config.profiler_config.ignore_frontend