diff --git a/sbin/ifconfig/ifconfig.c b/sbin/ifconfig/ifconfig.c
index aebcdc028db3..7af3306d68f8 100644
--- a/sbin/ifconfig/ifconfig.c
+++ b/sbin/ifconfig/ifconfig.c
@@ -881,7 +881,7 @@ unsetifdescr(const char *val, int value, int s, const struct afswtch *afp)
 #define	IFCAPBITS \
 "\020\1RXCSUM\2TXCSUM\3NETCONS\4VLAN_MTU\5VLAN_HWTAGGING\6JUMBO_MTU\7POLLING" \
 "\10VLAN_HWCSUM\11TSO4\12TSO6\13LRO\14WOL_UCAST\15WOL_MCAST\16WOL_MAGIC" \
-"\21VLAN_HWFILTER\23VLAN_HWTSO"
+"\21VLAN_HWFILTER\23VLAN_HWTSO\24LINKSTATE"
 
 /*
  * Print the status of the interface.  If an address family was
diff --git a/sys/net/if.h b/sys/net/if.h
index e226654b34b7..ae0daf5b639e 100644
--- a/sys/net/if.h
+++ b/sys/net/if.h
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@ struct if_data {
 #define	IFCAP_VLAN_HWFILTER	0x10000 /* interface hw can filter vlan tag */
 #define	IFCAP_POLLING_NOCOUNT	0x20000 /* polling ticks cannot be fragmented */
 #define	IFCAP_VLAN_HWTSO	0x40000 /* can do IFCAP_TSO on VLANs */
+#define	IFCAP_LINKSTATE		0x80000 /* the runtime link state is dynamic */
 
 #define IFCAP_HWCSUM	(IFCAP_RXCSUM | IFCAP_TXCSUM)
 #define	IFCAP_TSO	(IFCAP_TSO4 | IFCAP_TSO6)
diff --git a/sys/net/if_tap.c b/sys/net/if_tap.c
index 9123e8c85aae..eb81e816dd9f 100644
--- a/sys/net/if_tap.c
+++ b/sys/net/if_tap.c
@@ -443,6 +443,8 @@ tapcreate(struct cdev *dev)
 	ifp->if_mtu = ETHERMTU;
 	ifp->if_flags = (IFF_BROADCAST|IFF_SIMPLEX|IFF_MULTICAST);
 	ifp->if_snd.ifq_maxlen = ifqmaxlen;
+	ifp->if_capabilities |= IFCAP_LINKSTATE;
+	ifp->if_capenable |= IFCAP_LINKSTATE;
 
 	dev->si_drv1 = tp;
 	tp->tap_dev = dev;
diff --git a/sys/net/if_tun.c b/sys/net/if_tun.c
index 1fa02ac9f11e..1da63ba37655 100644
--- a/sys/net/if_tun.c
+++ b/sys/net/if_tun.c
@@ -386,6 +386,8 @@ tuncreate(const char *name, struct cdev *dev)
 	ifp->if_snd.ifq_drv_maxlen = 0;
 	IFQ_SET_READY(&ifp->if_snd);
 	knlist_init_mtx(&sc->tun_rsel.si_note, NULL);
+	ifp->if_capabilities |= IFCAP_LINKSTATE;
+	ifp->if_capenable |= IFCAP_LINKSTATE;
 
 	if_attach(ifp);
 	bpfattach(ifp, DLT_NULL, sizeof(u_int32_t));
diff --git a/sys/net/route.h b/sys/net/route.h
index 8c35678e6f16..bb5def39a325 100644
--- a/sys/net/route.h
+++ b/sys/net/route.h
@@ -319,8 +319,7 @@ struct rt_addrinfo {
 
 #ifdef _KERNEL
 
-#define RT_LINK_IS_UP(ifp)	(((ifp)->if_flags &		    \
-				  (IFF_LOOPBACK | IFF_POINTOPOINT)) \
+#define RT_LINK_IS_UP(ifp)	(!((ifp)->if_capabilities & IFCAP_LINKSTATE) \
 				 || (ifp)->if_link_state == LINK_STATE_UP)
 
 #define	RT_LOCK_INIT(_rt) \