diff --git a/UPDATING b/UPDATING
index 60c97419893..1e729624f1e 100644
--- a/UPDATING
+++ b/UPDATING
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT FreeBSD 15.x IS SLOW:
 	world, or to merely disable the most expensive debugging functionality
 	at runtime, run "ln -s 'abort:false,junk:false' /etc/malloc.conf".)
 
+20250806:
+	if_epair(4) now uses ether_gen_addr(9) to generate a stable MAC
+	address.
+	To keep using the random address, set the loader tunable
+	net.link.epair.ether_gen_addr=0.
+
 20250804:
 	bsdconfig (including sysrc(8)) has moved to the new bsdconfig
 	package.  If you use pkgbase and wish to use bsdconfig, you should
diff --git a/sys/net/if_epair.c b/sys/net/if_epair.c
index 4d35584925a..a213a84e17d 100644
--- a/sys/net/if_epair.c
+++ b/sys/net/if_epair.c
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ SYSCTL_DECL(_net_link);
 static SYSCTL_NODE(_net_link, OID_AUTO, epair, CTLFLAG_RW | CTLFLAG_MPSAFE, 0,
 	"Pair of virtual cross-over connected Ethernet-like interfaces");
 
-static bool use_ether_gen_addr = false;
+static bool use_ether_gen_addr = true;
 SYSCTL_BOOL(_net_link_epair, OID_AUTO, ether_gen_addr, CTLFLAG_RWTUN,
 	&use_ether_gen_addr, false,
 	"Generate MAC with FreeBSD OUI using ether_gen_addr(9)");