diff --git a/drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c b/drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c
index 0744bf2ef2d6e42044c6c31f7c74b0ec120e07d3..0b0ba7ef14e4e9054adeb1251c29cddba08c5187 100644
--- a/drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c
+++ b/drivers/net/usb/usbnet.c
@@ -324,7 +324,10 @@ void usbnet_skb_return (struct usbnet *dev, struct sk_buff *skb)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	skb->protocol = eth_type_trans (skb, dev->net);
+	/* only update if unset to allow minidriver rx_fixup override */
+	if (skb->protocol == 0)
+		skb->protocol = eth_type_trans (skb, dev->net);
+
 	dev->net->stats.rx_packets++;
 	dev->net->stats.rx_bytes += skb->len;