diff --git a/components/wpa_supplicant/esp_supplicant/src/esp_wpa_main.c b/components/wpa_supplicant/esp_supplicant/src/esp_wpa_main.c
index c08cbe2925..328b3d31f1 100644
--- a/components/wpa_supplicant/esp_supplicant/src/esp_wpa_main.c
+++ b/components/wpa_supplicant/esp_supplicant/src/esp_wpa_main.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019-2025 Espressif Systems (Shanghai) CO LTD
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019-2026 Espressif Systems (Shanghai) CO LTD
  *
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  */
@@ -370,6 +370,11 @@ static int check_n_add_wps_sta(struct hostapd_data *hapd, struct sta_info *sta_i
     }
 
     sta_info->wps_ie = wps_ie;
+
+    if (sta_info->eapol_sm) {
+        ieee802_1x_free_station(hapd, sta_info);
+    }
+
     sta_info->eapol_sm = ieee802_1x_alloc_eapol_sm(hapd, sta_info);
 
     if (sta_info->eapol_sm) {