diff --git a/lib/librte_net/rte_ip.h b/lib/librte_net/rte_ip.h
index e3300fd0fe..1ceb7b7931 100644
--- a/lib/librte_net/rte_ip.h
+++ b/lib/librte_net/rte_ip.h
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ rte_ipv6_udptcp_cksum(const struct rte_ipv6_hdr *ipv6_hdr, const void *l4_hdr)
  */
 __rte_experimental
 static inline int
-rte_ipv6_get_next_ext(uint8_t *p, int proto, size_t *ext_len)
+rte_ipv6_get_next_ext(const uint8_t *p, int proto, size_t *ext_len)
 {
 	int next_proto;