diff --git a/vmkdrivers/src_9/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000_82571.c b/vmkdrivers/src_9/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000_82571.c
index e84d04d32c20c9a860a58187c37819bb1cd32017..7b7b13ab4590e4229f609fe18ff79a32e4def982 100644
--- a/vmkdrivers/src_9/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000_82571.c
+++ b/vmkdrivers/src_9/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000_82571.c
@@ -1184,6 +1184,16 @@ static void e1000_initialize_hw_bits_82571(struct e1000_hw *hw)
 		ew32(CTRL_EXT, reg);
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Disable IPv6 extension header parsing because some malformed
+	 * IPv6 headers can hang the Rx.
+	 */
+	if (hw->mac.type <= e1000_82573) {
+		reg = er32(RFCTL);
+		reg |= (E1000_RFCTL_IPV6_EX_DIS | E1000_RFCTL_NEW_IPV6_EXT_DIS);
+		ew32(RFCTL, reg);
+	}
+
 	/* PCI-Ex Control Registers */
 
 	switch (hw->mac.type) {