diff --git a/drivers/netdev_ieee802154_submac/netdev_ieee802154_submac.c b/drivers/netdev_ieee802154_submac/netdev_ieee802154_submac.c
index baa1efd509..d5692a5f57 100644
--- a/drivers/netdev_ieee802154_submac/netdev_ieee802154_submac.c
+++ b/drivers/netdev_ieee802154_submac/netdev_ieee802154_submac.c
@@ -151,6 +151,9 @@ void ieee802154_submac_ack_timer_cancel(ieee802154_submac_t *submac)
                                                              submac);
 
     xtimer_remove(&netdev_submac->ack_timer);
+    /* Prevent a race condition between the RX_DONE event and the ACK timeout */
+    netdev_submac->isr_flags &= ~NETDEV_SUBMAC_FLAGS_ACK_TIMEOUT;
+
 }
 
 static int _send(netdev_t *netdev, const iolist_t *pkt)
diff --git a/sys/include/net/ieee802154/submac.h b/sys/include/net/ieee802154/submac.h
index 49e26e2dc7..5a1baa1925 100644
--- a/sys/include/net/ieee802154/submac.h
+++ b/sys/include/net/ieee802154/submac.h
@@ -544,7 +544,9 @@ ieee802154_fsm_state_t ieee802154_submac_process_ev(ieee802154_submac_t *submac,
  *
  * This function must be called when the ACK timeout timer fires.
  *
- * @note this function should not be called inside ISR context.
+ * @note this function should not be called inside ISR context and MUST NOT
+ *       be invoked if @ref ieee802154_submac_ack_timer_cancel was already
+ *       called.
  *
  * @param[in] submac pointer to the SubMAC descriptor
  */
diff --git a/tests/ieee802154_submac/main.c b/tests/ieee802154_submac/main.c
index 0e25a04279..0de03bd8dd 100644
--- a/tests/ieee802154_submac/main.c
+++ b/tests/ieee802154_submac/main.c
@@ -139,6 +139,10 @@ void ieee802154_submac_ack_timer_cancel(ieee802154_submac_t *submac)
 {
     (void)submac;
     ztimer_remove(ZTIMER_USEC, &ack_timer);
+    /* Avoid race conditions between RX_DONE and ACK_TIMEOUT */
+    if (ev_ack_timeout.list_node.next) {
+        event_cancel(EVENT_PRIO_HIGHEST, &ev_ack_timeout);
+    }
 }
 
 static void _ack_timeout(void *arg)