diff --git a/vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl_connector.py b/vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl_connector.py
index a962a9241..92a9184d3 100644
--- a/vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl_connector.py
+++ b/vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl_connector.py
@@ -298,8 +298,21 @@ class NixlConnectorScheduler:
         logger.debug(
             "NIXLConnector request_finished, request_status=%s, "
             "kv_transfer_params=%s", request.status, params)
+        if not params:
+            return False, None
 
-        if (params is None or not params.get("do_remote_decode")
+        if params.get("do_remote_prefill"):
+            # If do_remote_prefill is still True when the request is finished,
+            # update_state_after_alloc must not have been called (the request
+            # must have been aborted before it was scheduled).
+            # To avoid stranding the prefill blocks in the prefill instance,
+            # we must add empty block_ids to _reqs_need_recv so that our
+            # worker side will notify and free blocks in the prefill instance.
+            self._reqs_need_recv[request.request_id] = (request, [])
+            params["do_remote_prefill"] = False
+            return False, None
+
+        if (not params.get("do_remote_decode")
                 or request.status != RequestStatus.FINISHED_LENGTH_CAPPED):
             return False, None