diff --git a/components/openthread/private_include/openthread-core-esp32x-spinel-config.h b/components/openthread/private_include/openthread-core-esp32x-spinel-config.h
index 9e01fb818af..4f848146ccb 100644
--- a/components/openthread/private_include/openthread-core-esp32x-spinel-config.h
+++ b/components/openthread/private_include/openthread-core-esp32x-spinel-config.h
@@ -88,3 +88,13 @@
 #ifndef OPENTHREAD_CONFIG_MULTIPLE_INSTANCE_ENABLE
 #define OPENTHREAD_CONFIG_MULTIPLE_INSTANCE_ENABLE 1
 #endif
+
+/**
+ * @def OPENTHREAD_CONFIG_MAC_SOFTWARE_RETX_SECURITY_ENABLE
+ *
+ * Workaround for SPINEL_ONLY build configuration.
+ * See esp-idf MR !50530 for details.
+ */
+#ifndef OPENTHREAD_CONFIG_MAC_SOFTWARE_RETX_SECURITY_ENABLE
+#define OPENTHREAD_CONFIG_MAC_SOFTWARE_RETX_SECURITY_ENABLE 0
+#endif