diff --git a/src/basic/ether-addr-util.c b/src/basic/ether-addr-util.c
index 0cc18b3115..605d5dbb28 100644
--- a/src/basic/ether-addr-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/ether-addr-util.c
@@ -309,3 +309,18 @@ int parse_hw_addr_full(const char *s, size_t expected_len, struct hw_addr_data *
         memcpy(ret->bytes, bytes, ret->length);
         return 0;
 }
+
+int parse_ether_addr(const char *s, struct ether_addr *ret) {
+        struct hw_addr_data a;
+        int r;
+
+        assert(s);
+        assert(ret);
+
+        r = parse_hw_addr_full(s, ETH_ALEN, &a);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        *ret = a.ether;
+        return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/basic/ether-addr-util.h b/src/basic/ether-addr-util.h
index 983f1bbe64..11bea7bbcc 100644
--- a/src/basic/ether-addr-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/ether-addr-util.h
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ int parse_hw_addr_full(const char *s, size_t expected_len, struct hw_addr_data *
 static inline int parse_hw_addr(const char *s, struct hw_addr_data *ret) {
         return parse_hw_addr_full(s, 0, ret);
 }
+int parse_ether_addr(const char *s, struct ether_addr *ret);
 
 #define HW_ADDR_TO_STRING_MAX (3*HW_ADDR_MAX_SIZE)
 char* hw_addr_to_string(const struct hw_addr_data *addr, char buffer[HW_ADDR_TO_STRING_MAX]);