diff --git a/include/linux/if.h b/include/linux/if.h
index f995c663c493baf4d369bcf05d3bed20d38dcd1f..1ec407b01e46fe73308547b02bd548fd150616ec 100644
--- a/include/linux/if.h
+++ b/include/linux/if.h
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@
 #define IFF_UNICAST_FLT	0x20000		/* Supports unicast filtering	*/
 #define IFF_TEAM_PORT	0x40000		/* device used as team port */
 #define IFF_SUPP_NOFCS	0x80000		/* device supports sending custom FCS */
+#define IFF_LIVE_ADDR_CHANGE 0x100000	/* device supports hardware address
+					 * change when it's running */
 
 
 #define IF_GET_IFACE	0x0001		/* for querying only */
diff --git a/net/ethernet/eth.c b/net/ethernet/eth.c
index 36e58800a9e34b1f9683e09b92bf92b349eb99ab..db6a6c17d7906e1e8fabcd33b6237be0f7416538 100644
--- a/net/ethernet/eth.c
+++ b/net/ethernet/eth.c
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ int eth_mac_addr(struct net_device *dev, void *p)
 {
 	struct sockaddr *addr = p;
 
-	if (netif_running(dev))
+	if (!(dev->priv_flags & IFF_LIVE_ADDR_CHANGE) && netif_running(dev))
 		return -EBUSY;
 	if (!is_valid_ether_addr(addr->sa_data))
 		return -EADDRNOTAVAIL;