diff --git a/apps/emqx_rule_engine/src/emqx_rule_engine_jwt_sup.erl b/apps/emqx_rule_engine/src/emqx_rule_engine_jwt_sup.erl
index 989be2304..d564097dd 100644
--- a/apps/emqx_rule_engine/src/emqx_rule_engine_jwt_sup.erl
+++ b/apps/emqx_rule_engine/src/emqx_rule_engine_jwt_sup.erl
@@ -62,8 +62,10 @@ ensure_worker_present(Id, Config) ->
 -spec ensure_worker_deleted(worker_id()) -> ok.
 ensure_worker_deleted(Id) ->
     case supervisor:terminate_child(?MODULE, Id) of
-        ok -> ok;
-        {error, not_found} -> ok
+        ok ->
+            ok = supervisor:delete_child(?MODULE, Id);
+        {error, not_found} ->
+            ok
     end.
 
 jwt_worker_child_spec(Id, Config) ->
diff --git a/apps/emqx_rule_engine/test/emqx_rule_engine_jwt_worker_SUITE.erl b/apps/emqx_rule_engine/test/emqx_rule_engine_jwt_worker_SUITE.erl
index 0de58df40..4236913fb 100644
--- a/apps/emqx_rule_engine/test/emqx_rule_engine_jwt_worker_SUITE.erl
+++ b/apps/emqx_rule_engine/test/emqx_rule_engine_jwt_worker_SUITE.erl
@@ -259,4 +259,6 @@ t_start_supervised_worker(_Config) ->
     %% ensure it cleans up its own tokens to avoid leakage when
     %% probing/testing rule resources.
     ?assertEqual({error, not_found}, emqx_rule_engine_jwt:lookup_jwt(TId, ResourceId)),
+    %% ensure the specs are removed from the supervision tree.
+    ?assertEqual([], supervisor:which_children(emqx_rule_engine_jwt_sup)),
     ok.