In an embodiment, a method includes transmitting an initiation request from a first electronic device to a second electronic device, the initiation request being associated with a notification that the first electronic device is capable of early detection of duplicate security associations (SAs), receiving an initiation request from the second electronic device at the first electronic device, the initiation request being associated with a capability notification that the second electronic device is capable of early detection of duplicate SAs, determining a possibility of duplicate SAs by the first electronic device, transmitting responses configured to prevent duplicate SAs from the first electronic device to the second electronic device, receiving responses at the first electronic device from the second electronic device, wherein the responses indicate no duplicate SAs created by the second electronic device, and establishing a non-duplicate SA for the first and second electronic devices.