diff --git a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
index c532884f4fec..2dc7a1d97686 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
+++ b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
@@ -852,9 +852,18 @@ arp_notify - BOOLEAN
 	    or hardware address changes.
 
 arp_accept - BOOLEAN
-	Define behavior when gratuitous arp replies are received:
-	0 - drop gratuitous arp frames
-	1 - accept gratuitous arp frames
+	Define behavior for gratuitous ARP frames who's IP is not
+	already present in the ARP table:
+	0 - don't create new entries in the ARP table
+	1 - create new entries in the ARP table
+
+	Both replies and requests type gratuitous arp will trigger the
+	ARP table to be updated, if this setting is on.
+
+	If the ARP table already contains the IP address of the
+	gratuitous arp frame, the arp table will be updated regardless
+	if this setting is on or off.
+
 
 app_solicit - INTEGER
 	The maximum number of probes to send to the user space ARP daemon
diff --git a/net/ipv4/arp.c b/net/ipv4/arp.c
index 078709233bc4..1940b4df7699 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/arp.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/arp.c
@@ -907,7 +907,8 @@ static int arp_process(struct sk_buff *skb)
 		   devices (strip is candidate)
 		 */
 		if (n == NULL &&
-		    arp->ar_op == htons(ARPOP_REPLY) &&
+		    (arp->ar_op == htons(ARPOP_REPLY) ||
+		     (arp->ar_op == htons(ARPOP_REQUEST) && tip == sip)) &&
 		    inet_addr_type(net, sip) == RTN_UNICAST)
 			n = __neigh_lookup(&arp_tbl, &sip, dev, 1);
 	}