diff --git a/vmkdrivers/src_9/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000_80003es2lan.c b/vmkdrivers/src_9/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000_80003es2lan.c
index a13ee177a0218bde0e811d1f622e3c380501318d..1aceb32d187cf2bb0bd96f6e9a57ffcc971ef2a9 100644
--- a/vmkdrivers/src_9/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000_80003es2lan.c
+++ b/vmkdrivers/src_9/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000_80003es2lan.c
@@ -997,6 +997,14 @@ static void e1000_initialize_hw_bits_80003es2lan(struct e1000_hw *hw)
 		reg |= (1 << 28);
 	ew32(TARC(1), reg);
 
+	/*
+	 * Disable IPv6 extension header parsing because some malformed
+	 * IPv6 headers can hang the Rx.
+	 */
+	reg = er32(RFCTL);
+	reg |= (E1000_RFCTL_IPV6_EX_DIS | E1000_RFCTL_NEW_IPV6_EXT_DIS);
+	ew32(RFCTL, reg);
+
 	return;
 }