diff --git a/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c b/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c
index cb2c762c93..d827614483 100644
--- a/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c
+++ b/src/core/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c
@@ -1969,11 +1969,8 @@ _properties_changed_main(NMSupplicantInterface *self, GVariant *properties)
 
     if (nm_g_variant_lookup(properties, "CurrentBSS", "&o", &v_s)) {
         v_s = nm_dbus_path_not_empty(v_s);
-        if (!nm_ref_string_equal_str(priv->current_bss, v_s)) {
-            nm_ref_string_unref(priv->current_bss);
-            priv->current_bss     = nm_ref_string_new(v_s);
+        if (nm_ref_string_reset_str(&priv->current_bss, v_s))
             do_notify_current_bss = TRUE;
-        }
     }
 
     if (nm_g_variant_lookup(properties, "ApIsolate", "&s", &v_s))