diff --git a/hscontrol/db/ip.go b/hscontrol/db/ip.go
index 3fddcfd2..244bb3db 100644
--- a/hscontrol/db/ip.go
+++ b/hscontrol/db/ip.go
@@ -325,7 +325,11 @@ func (db *HSDatabase) BackfillNodeIPs(i *IPAllocator) ([]string, error) {
 			}
 
 			if changed {
-				err := tx.Save(node).Error
+				// Use Updates() with Select() to only update IP fields, avoiding overwriting
+				// other fields like Expiry. We need Select() because Updates() alone skips
+				// zero values, but we DO want to update IPv4/IPv6 to nil when removing them.
+				// See issue #2862.
+				err := tx.Model(node).Select("ipv4", "ipv6").Updates(node).Error
 				if err != nil {
 					return fmt.Errorf("saving node(%d) after adding IPs: %w", node.ID, err)
 				}
diff --git a/hscontrol/state/state.go b/hscontrol/state/state.go
index 6e1d08e0..ff876024 100644
--- a/hscontrol/state/state.go
+++ b/hscontrol/state/state.go
@@ -386,7 +386,11 @@ func (s *State) persistNodeToDB(node types.NodeView) (types.NodeView, change.Cha
 
 	nodePtr := node.AsStruct()
 
-	if err := s.db.DB.Save(nodePtr).Error; err != nil {
+	// Use Omit("expiry") to prevent overwriting expiry during MapRequest updates.
+	// Expiry should only be updated through explicit SetNodeExpiry calls or re-registration.
+	// See: https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/issues/2862
+	err := s.db.DB.Omit("expiry").Updates(nodePtr).Error
+	if err != nil {
 		return types.NodeView{}, change.EmptySet, fmt.Errorf("saving node: %w", err)
 	}