diff --git a/drivers/net/loopback.c b/drivers/net/loopback.c
index dc7d970bd1c0..effcdbfb06e9 100644
--- a/drivers/net/loopback.c
+++ b/drivers/net/loopback.c
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ static void loopback_setup(struct net_device *dev)
 {
 	dev->mtu		= 64 * 1024;
 	dev->hard_header_len	= ETH_HLEN;	/* 14	*/
+	dev->min_header_len	= ETH_HLEN;	/* 14	*/
 	dev->addr_len		= ETH_ALEN;	/* 6	*/
 	dev->type		= ARPHRD_LOOPBACK;	/* 0x0001*/
 	dev->flags		= IFF_LOOPBACK;
diff --git a/include/linux/netdevice.h b/include/linux/netdevice.h
index 93a6a2c66d15..4035bbe40971 100644
--- a/include/linux/netdevice.h
+++ b/include/linux/netdevice.h
@@ -1399,6 +1399,7 @@ enum netdev_priv_flags {
  *	@mtu:		Interface MTU value
  *	@type:		Interface hardware type
  *	@hard_header_len: Maximum hardware header length.
+ *	@min_header_len:  Minimum hardware header length
  *
  *	@needed_headroom: Extra headroom the hardware may need, but not in all
  *			  cases can this be guaranteed
@@ -1619,6 +1620,7 @@ struct net_device {
 	unsigned int		mtu;
 	unsigned short		type;
 	unsigned short		hard_header_len;
+	unsigned short		min_header_len;
 
 	unsigned short		needed_headroom;
 	unsigned short		needed_tailroom;
@@ -2541,6 +2543,8 @@ static inline bool dev_validate_header(const struct net_device *dev,
 {
 	if (likely(len >= dev->hard_header_len))
 		return true;
+	if (len < dev->min_header_len)
+		return false;
 
 	if (capable(CAP_SYS_RAWIO)) {
 		memset(ll_header + len, 0, dev->hard_header_len - len);
diff --git a/net/ethernet/eth.c b/net/ethernet/eth.c
index de85d4e1cf43..52dcd414c2af 100644
--- a/net/ethernet/eth.c
+++ b/net/ethernet/eth.c
@@ -353,6 +353,7 @@ void ether_setup(struct net_device *dev)
 	dev->header_ops		= &eth_header_ops;
 	dev->type		= ARPHRD_ETHER;
 	dev->hard_header_len 	= ETH_HLEN;
+	dev->min_header_len	= ETH_HLEN;
 	dev->mtu		= ETH_DATA_LEN;
 	dev->addr_len		= ETH_ALEN;
 	dev->tx_queue_len	= 1000;	/* Ethernet wants good queues */