diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 066aa902d85c3e3f5ad83244b1506a446bebcb88..ddc551f24ba2afc4cfd9f11826602f92945ff871 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -5970,11 +5970,14 @@ bool napi_complete_done(struct napi_struct *n, int work_done)
 		if (work_done)
 			timeout = n->dev->gro_flush_timeout;
 
+		/* When the NAPI instance uses a timeout and keeps postponing
+		 * it, we need to bound somehow the time packets are kept in
+		 * the GRO layer
+		 */
+		napi_gro_flush(n, !!timeout);
 		if (timeout)
 			hrtimer_start(&n->timer, ns_to_ktime(timeout),
 				      HRTIMER_MODE_REL_PINNED);
-		else
-			napi_gro_flush(n, false);
 	}
 	if (unlikely(!list_empty(&n->poll_list))) {
 		/* If n->poll_list is not empty, we need to mask irqs */