diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_lib.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_lib.c
index 8cdc4fda89e9..9e08db376d3d 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_lib.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_lib.c
@@ -2871,6 +2871,9 @@ int ice_vsi_release(struct ice_vsi *vsi)
 		return -ENODEV;
 	pf = vsi->back;
 
+	if (ice_is_vsi_dflt_vsi(vsi))
+		ice_clear_dflt_vsi(vsi);
+
 	if (test_bit(ICE_FLAG_RSS_ENA, pf->flags))
 		ice_rss_clean(vsi);