diff --git a/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/main/test_stack_check.c b/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/main/test_stack_check.c
index 763f758b3924..d3f3cbaeb8b6 100644
--- a/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/main/test_stack_check.c
+++ b/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/main/test_stack_check.c
@@ -21,7 +21,10 @@ static void recur_and_smash(void)
     }
 }
 
-
+/* Test is marked as ignore, since we cannot run it as a regular unity test case
+   Instead we run it in a seperate test case and check output with pytest,
+   see test_stack_smash_protection in the pytest file.
+ */
 TEST_CASE("stack smashing protection", "[stack_check] [ignore]")
 {
     recur_and_smash();
diff --git a/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/pytest_esp_system_unity_tests.py b/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/pytest_esp_system_unity_tests.py
index 1c598ca7da9a..4afa08c403fe 100644
--- a/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/pytest_esp_system_unity_tests.py
+++ b/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/pytest_esp_system_unity_tests.py
@@ -16,3 +16,17 @@
 )
 def test_esp_system(dut: Dut) -> None:
     dut.run_all_single_board_cases()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.generic
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    'config',
+    [
+        pytest.param('default', marks=[pytest.mark.supported_targets]),
+    ]
+)
+def test_stack_smash_protection(dut: Dut) -> None:
+    dut.expect_exact('Press ENTER to see the list of tests')
+    dut.write('"stack smashing protection"')
+    dut.expect_exact('Stack smashing protect failure!')
+    dut.expect_exact('Rebooting...')
diff --git a/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/sdkconfig.ci.default b/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/sdkconfig.ci.default
index d306fa0e421b..31d50f69086f 100644
--- a/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/sdkconfig.ci.default
+++ b/components/esp_system/test_apps/esp_system_unity_tests/sdkconfig.ci.default
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 # Default configuration
+# Used for testing stack smashing protection
+CONFIG_COMPILER_STACK_CHECK=y