diff --git a/src/inet/UDPEndPointImplLwIP.cpp b/src/inet/UDPEndPointImplLwIP.cpp
index d5e90568f7af84..32b10c62c5d720 100644
--- a/src/inet/UDPEndPointImplLwIP.cpp
+++ b/src/inet/UDPEndPointImplLwIP.cpp
@@ -371,20 +371,15 @@ void UDPEndPointImplLwIP::LwIPReceiveUDPMessage(void * arg, struct udp_pcb * pcb
         pktInfo->DestPort    = pcb->local_port;
     }
 
-    ep->Retain();
+    // TODO: add thread-safe reference counting for UDP endpoints
     CHIP_ERROR err = ep->GetSystemLayer().ScheduleLambda([ep, p = System::LwIPPacketBufferView::UnsafeGetLwIPpbuf(buf)] {
         ep->HandleDataReceived(System::PacketBufferHandle::Adopt(p));
-        ep->Release();
     });
     if (err == CHIP_NO_ERROR)
     {
         // If ScheduleLambda() succeeded, it has ownership of the buffer, so we need to release it (without freeing it).
         static_cast<void>(std::move(buf).UnsafeRelease());
     }
-    else
-    {
-        ep->Release();
-    }
 }
 
 CHIP_ERROR UDPEndPointImplLwIP::SetMulticastLoopback(IPVersion aIPVersion, bool aLoopback)
diff --git a/src/inet/UDPEndPointImplOpenThread.cpp b/src/inet/UDPEndPointImplOpenThread.cpp
index 02f11ba30bdf75..2f78e80a4253ef 100644
--- a/src/inet/UDPEndPointImplOpenThread.cpp
+++ b/src/inet/UDPEndPointImplOpenThread.cpp
@@ -98,18 +98,15 @@ void UDPEndPointImplOT::handleUdpReceive(void * aContext, otMessage * aMessage,
     }
     payload->SetDataLength(static_cast<uint16_t>(msgLen));
 
-    ep->Retain();
-    auto * buf     = std::move(payload).UnsafeRelease();
-    CHIP_ERROR err = ep->GetSystemLayer().ScheduleLambda([ep, buf] {
-        ep->HandleDataReceived(System::PacketBufferHandle::Adopt(buf));
-        ep->Release();
-    });
+    // TODO: add thread-safe reference counting for UDP endpoints
+    auto * buf = std::move(payload).UnsafeRelease();
+    CHIP_ERROR err =
+        ep->GetSystemLayer().ScheduleLambda([ep, buf] { ep->HandleDataReceived(System::PacketBufferHandle::Adopt(buf)); });
     if (err != CHIP_NO_ERROR)
     {
         // Make sure we properly clean up buf and ep, since our lambda will not
         // run.
         payload = System::PacketBufferHandle::Adopt(buf);
-        ep->Release();
     }
 }