diff --git a/include/net.h b/include/net.h
index e7f28d7..35602cd 100644
--- a/include/net.h
+++ b/include/net.h
@@ -97,7 +97,12 @@ struct eth_pdata {
  * send: Send the bytes passed in "packet" as a packet on the wire
  * recv: Check if the hardware received a packet. If so, set the pointer to the
  *	 packet buffer in the packetp parameter. If not, return an error or 0 to
- *	 indicate that the hardware receive FIFO is empty
+ *	 indicate that the hardware receive FIFO is empty. If 0 is returned, the
+ *	 network stack will not process the empty packet, but free_pkt() will be
+ *	 called if supplied
+ * free_pkt: Give the driver an opportunity to manage its packet buffer memory
+ *	     when the network stack is finished processing it. This will only be
+ *	     called when no error was returned from recv - optional
  * stop: Stop the hardware from looking for packets - may be called even if
  *	 state == PASSIVE
  * mcast: Join or leave a multicast group (for TFTP) - optional
@@ -113,6 +118,7 @@ struct eth_ops {
 	int (*start)(struct udevice *dev);
 	int (*send)(struct udevice *dev, void *packet, int length);
 	int (*recv)(struct udevice *dev, uchar **packetp);
+	int (*free_pkt)(struct udevice *dev, uchar *packet, int length);
 	void (*stop)(struct udevice *dev);
 #ifdef CONFIG_MCAST_TFTP
 	int (*mcast)(struct udevice *dev, const u8 *enetaddr, int join);
diff --git a/net/eth.c b/net/eth.c
index 13b7723..05411f1 100644
--- a/net/eth.c
+++ b/net/eth.c
@@ -344,7 +344,9 @@ int eth_rx(void)
 		ret = eth_get_ops(current)->recv(current, &packet);
 		if (ret > 0)
 			net_process_received_packet(packet, ret);
-		else
+		if (ret >= 0 && eth_get_ops(current)->free_pkt)
+			eth_get_ops(current)->free_pkt(current, packet, ret);
+		if (ret <= 0)
 			break;
 	}
 	if (ret == -EAGAIN)