diff --git a/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c b/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c
index bb37791ddb..650b65ed34 100644
--- a/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c
+++ b/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c
@@ -434,12 +434,12 @@ static esp_err_t _set_config(esp_http_client_handle_t client, const esp_http_cli
     }
 
     if (config->transport_type == HTTP_TRANSPORT_OVER_SSL) {
-        http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.scheme, "https", 0);
+        http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.scheme, "https", -1);
         if (client->connection_info.port == 0) {
             client->connection_info.port = DEFAULT_HTTPS_PORT;
         }
     } else {
-        http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.scheme, "http", 0);
+        http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.scheme, "http", -1);
         if (client->connection_info.port == 0) {
             client->connection_info.port = DEFAULT_HTTP_PORT;
         }
@@ -783,10 +783,10 @@ esp_err_t esp_http_client_set_url(esp_http_client_handle_t client, const char *u
             if (password) {
                 *password = 0;
                 password ++;
-                http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.password, password, 0);
+                http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.password, password, -1);
                 HTTP_MEM_CHECK(TAG, client->connection_info.password, return ESP_ERR_NO_MEM);
             }
-            http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.username, username, 0);
+            http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.username, username, -1);
             HTTP_MEM_CHECK(TAG, client->connection_info.username, return ESP_ERR_NO_MEM);
             free(user_info);
         } else {
@@ -798,7 +798,7 @@ esp_err_t esp_http_client_set_url(esp_http_client_handle_t client, const char *u
     if (purl.field_data[UF_PATH].len) {
         http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.path, url + purl.field_data[UF_PATH].off, purl.field_data[UF_PATH].len);
     } else {
-        http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.path, "/", 0);
+        http_utils_assign_string(&client->connection_info.path, "/", -1);
     }
     HTTP_MEM_CHECK(TAG, client->connection_info.path, return ESP_ERR_NO_MEM);
 
@@ -1377,6 +1377,26 @@ int esp_http_client_read_response(esp_http_client_handle_t client, char *buffer,
     return read_len;
 }
 
+esp_err_t esp_http_client_flush_response(esp_http_client_handle_t client, int *len)
+{
+    if (client == NULL) {
+        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "client must not be NULL");
+        return ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG;
+    }
+    int read_len = 0;
+    while (!esp_http_client_is_complete_data_received(client)) {
+        int data_read = esp_http_client_get_data(client);
+        if (data_read < 0) {
+            return ESP_FAIL;
+        }
+        read_len += data_read;
+    }
+    if (len) {
+        *len = read_len;
+    }
+    return ESP_OK;
+}
+
 esp_err_t esp_http_client_get_url(esp_http_client_handle_t client, char *url, const int len)
 {
     if (client == NULL || url == NULL) {
diff --git a/components/esp_http_client/include/esp_http_client.h b/components/esp_http_client/include/esp_http_client.h
index 3ad04b49d8..a942426afa 100644
--- a/components/esp_http_client/include/esp_http_client.h
+++ b/components/esp_http_client/include/esp_http_client.h
@@ -524,6 +524,21 @@ bool esp_http_client_is_complete_data_received(esp_http_client_handle_t client);
 
 int esp_http_client_read_response(esp_http_client_handle_t client, char *buffer, int len);
 
+/**
+ * @brief       Process all remaining response data
+ *              This uses an internal buffer to repeatedly receive, parse, and discard response data until complete data is processed.
+ *              As no additional user-supplied buffer is required, this may be preferrable to `esp_http_client_read_response` in situations where the content of the response may be ignored.
+ *
+ * @param[in]  client  The esp_http_client handle
+ * @param      len     Length of data discarded
+ *
+ * @return
+ *     - ESP_OK                 If successful, len will have discarded length
+ *     - ESP_FAIL               If failed to read response
+ *     - ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG    If the client is NULL
+ */
+int esp_http_client_flush_response(esp_http_client_handle_t client, int *len);
+
 /**
  * @brief          Get URL from client
  *
diff --git a/components/esp_http_client/lib/http_header.c b/components/esp_http_client/lib/http_header.c
index b3dda8eea4..977efcba7b 100644
--- a/components/esp_http_client/lib/http_header.c
+++ b/components/esp_http_client/lib/http_header.c
@@ -86,10 +86,10 @@ static esp_err_t http_header_new_item(http_header_handle_t header, const char *k
 
     item = calloc(1, sizeof(http_header_item_t));
     HTTP_MEM_CHECK(TAG, item, return ESP_ERR_NO_MEM);
-    http_utils_assign_string(&item->key, key, 0);
+    http_utils_assign_string(&item->key, key, -1);
     HTTP_MEM_CHECK(TAG, item->key, goto _header_new_item_exit);
     http_utils_trim_whitespace(&item->key);
-    http_utils_assign_string(&item->value, value, 0);
+    http_utils_assign_string(&item->value, value, -1);
     HTTP_MEM_CHECK(TAG, item->value, goto _header_new_item_exit);
     http_utils_trim_whitespace(&item->value);
     STAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(header, item, next);
diff --git a/components/esp_http_client/lib/http_utils.c b/components/esp_http_client/lib/http_utils.c
index 267e39e6d6..e497869c21 100644
--- a/components/esp_http_client/lib/http_utils.c
+++ b/components/esp_http_client/lib/http_utils.c
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ char *http_utils_assign_string(char **str, const char *new_str, int len)
         return NULL;
     }
     char *old_str = *str;
-    if (l <= 0) {
+    if (l < 0) {
         l = strlen(new_str);
     }
     if (old_str) {