diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c
index 8b0bc7c46df9..bdebc5bfa2b8 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c
@@ -6166,7 +6166,12 @@ static int stmmac_change_mtu(struct net_device *dev, int new_mtu)
 	if ((txfifosz < new_mtu) || (new_mtu > BUF_SIZE_16KiB))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
-	if (netif_running(dev)) {
+	/* Normal-size frames use the same buffers and MAC receive limits.
+	 * In particular, do not disturb a live AF_XDP pool: XDP does not
+	 * support jumbo frames, so it never needs the ring replacement below.
+	 */
+	if (netif_running(dev) &&
+	    (dev->mtu > ETH_DATA_LEN || mtu > ETH_DATA_LEN)) {
 		netdev_dbg(priv->dev, "restarting interface to change its MTU\n");
 		/* Try to allocate the new DMA conf with the new mtu */
 		dma_conf = stmmac_setup_dma_desc(priv, mtu);