diff --git a/src/providers/wfs/qgsbasenetworkrequest.cpp b/src/providers/wfs/qgsbasenetworkrequest.cpp
index 31a5aa0c3c21..73e4201ff9b0 100644
--- a/src/providers/wfs/qgsbasenetworkrequest.cpp
+++ b/src/providers/wfs/qgsbasenetworkrequest.cpp
@@ -306,15 +306,22 @@ bool QgsBaseNetworkRequest::issueRequest( QNetworkRequest &request, const QByteA
           // note that we don't need to handle waking this thread back up - that's done automatically by QgsNetworkAccessManager
         };
 
-        connect( QgsNetworkAccessManager::instance(), &QgsNetworkAccessManager::authRequestOccurred, this, resumeMainThread, Qt::DirectConnection );
-        connect( QgsNetworkAccessManager::instance(), &QgsNetworkAccessManager::proxyAuthenticationRequired, this, resumeMainThread, Qt::DirectConnection );
-
+        QMetaObject::Connection authRequestConnection = connect( QgsNetworkAccessManager::instance(), &QgsNetworkAccessManager::authRequestOccurred, this, resumeMainThread, Qt::DirectConnection );
+        QMetaObject::Connection proxyAuthenticationConnection = connect( QgsNetworkAccessManager::instance(), &QgsNetworkAccessManager::proxyAuthenticationRequired, this, resumeMainThread, Qt::DirectConnection );
 #ifndef QT_NO_SSL
-        connect( QgsNetworkAccessManager::instance(), &QgsNetworkAccessManager::sslErrorsOccurred, this, resumeMainThread, Qt::DirectConnection );
+        QMetaObject::Connection sslErrorConnection = connect( QgsNetworkAccessManager::instance(), &QgsNetworkAccessManager::sslErrorsOccurred, this, resumeMainThread, Qt::DirectConnection );
 #endif
+
         QEventLoop loop;
         connect( this, &QgsBaseNetworkRequest::downloadFinished, &loop, &QEventLoop::quit, Qt::DirectConnection );
         loop.exec();
+
+        // event loop exited - need to disconnect as to not leave functor hanging to receive signals in future
+        disconnect( authRequestConnection );
+        disconnect( proxyAuthenticationConnection );
+#ifndef QT_NO_SSL
+        disconnect( sslErrorConnection );
+#endif
       }
     }
     waitConditionMutex.lock();