diff --git a/.murdock b/.murdock
index 4798ca3b4937..906799a04537 100755
--- a/.murdock
+++ b/.murdock
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ compile() {
 
 
     if [ ${should_check_kconfig_hash} != 0 ]; then
-        if [ ${kconfig_hashes} != ${no_kconfig_hashes} ]; then
+        if [ "${kconfig_hashes}" != "${no_kconfig_hashes}" ]; then
             echo "Hashes of binaries with and without Kconfig mismatch for ${appdir} with ${board}";
             echo "Please check that all used modules are modelled in Kconfig and enabled";
             echo "Input without KConfig:"
diff --git a/cpu/esp32/Kconfig.esp32 b/cpu/esp32/Kconfig.esp32
index 1858dee371d5..d5cb48c0520c 100644
--- a/cpu/esp32/Kconfig.esp32
+++ b/cpu/esp32/Kconfig.esp32
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ config CPU_FAM_ESP32
 
     select PACKAGE_ESP32_SDK if TEST_KCONFIG
 
-    select MODULE_LIBC_GETTIMEOFDAY if TEST_KCONFIG
+    select MODULE_MALLOC_THREAD_SAFE if !MODULE_ESP_IDF_HEAP && TEST_KCONFIG
     select MODULE_PERIPH_RTT if HAS_PERIPH_RTT && MODULE_PM_LAYERED
     select MODULE_PS if MODULE_SHELL
     select MODULE_PTHREAD if MODULE_CPP
diff --git a/cpu/esp32/esp-idf/gpio/Kconfig b/cpu/esp32/esp-idf/gpio/Kconfig
index 0fe2ba2739e2..347f96b99043 100644
--- a/cpu/esp32/esp-idf/gpio/Kconfig
+++ b/cpu/esp32/esp-idf/gpio/Kconfig
@@ -14,3 +14,7 @@ config MODULE_ESP_IDF_GPIO
 
     help
         ESP-IDF code for peripheral GPIO.
+
+config MODULE_ESP_IDF_GPIO_HAL
+    bool "Use ESP-IDF GPIO Hardware Abstraction Layer"
+    depends on TEST_KCONFIG
diff --git a/tests/external_board_dirs/esp-ci-boards/esp32-ci/esp32-ci.config b/tests/external_board_dirs/esp-ci-boards/esp32-ci/esp32-ci.config
index 4586b7c1587f..c30b516e1fd6 100644
--- a/tests/external_board_dirs/esp-ci-boards/esp32-ci/esp32-ci.config
+++ b/tests/external_board_dirs/esp-ci-boards/esp32-ci/esp32-ci.config
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Sets up configuration for openocd
 CONFIG_MODULE_ESP_JTAG=y
+CONFIG_MODULE_ESP_IDF_GPIO_HAL=y
 CONFIG_MODULE_ESP_IDF_HEAP=y
 CONFIG_MODULE_ESP_LOG_STARTUP=y
 CONFIG_MODULE_ESP_LOG_TAGGED=y