diff --git a/src/conf/network_conf.c b/src/conf/network_conf.c
index a249e32c1bdb3b07a8bc3f21207f623874432f86..5052f7c2e71807f4d807856af01db68d7308e80f 100644
--- a/src/conf/network_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/network_conf.c
@@ -3144,6 +3144,10 @@ virNetworkObjPtr virNetworkLoadConfig(virNetworkObjListPtr nets,
          */
         if (virNetworkSetBridgeName(nets, def, 0))
             goto error;
+    } else {
+        /* Throw away MAC address for other forward types,
+         * which could have been generated by older libvirt RPMs */
+        def->mac_specified = false;
     }
 
     if (!(net = virNetworkAssignDef(nets, def, false)))