diff --git a/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.h b/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.h
index 1c6e11507a..8e27d2eedb 100644
--- a/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.h
+++ b/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.h
@@ -682,8 +682,10 @@ __rte_pktmbuf_prefree_seg(struct rte_mbuf *m)
 static inline void __attribute__((always_inline))
 rte_pktmbuf_free_seg(struct rte_mbuf *m)
 {
-	if (likely(NULL != (m = __rte_pktmbuf_prefree_seg(m))))
+	if (likely(NULL != (m = __rte_pktmbuf_prefree_seg(m)))) {
+		m->next = NULL;
 		__rte_mbuf_raw_free(m);
+	}
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/lib/librte_pmd_ixgbe/ixgbe_rxtx.c b/lib/librte_pmd_ixgbe/ixgbe_rxtx.c
index 9a664c3ca5..d34588576b 100644
--- a/lib/librte_pmd_ixgbe/ixgbe_rxtx.c
+++ b/lib/librte_pmd_ixgbe/ixgbe_rxtx.c
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ ixgbe_tx_free_bufs(struct igb_tx_queue *txq)
 	/* free buffers one at a time */
 	if ((txq->txq_flags & (uint32_t)ETH_TXQ_FLAGS_NOREFCOUNT) != 0) {
 		for (i = 0; i < txq->tx_rs_thresh; ++i, ++txep) {
+			txep->mbuf->next = NULL;
 			rte_mempool_put(txep->mbuf->pool, txep->mbuf);
 			txep->mbuf = NULL;
 		}