diff --git a/src/basic/ether-addr-util.h b/src/basic/ether-addr-util.h
index a7f42ccd1a..c5cfdb4233 100644
--- a/src/basic/ether-addr-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/ether-addr-util.h
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ static inline bool hw_addr_equal(const struct hw_addr_data *a, const struct hw_a
         return hw_addr_compare(a, b) == 0;
 }
 static inline bool hw_addr_is_null(const struct hw_addr_data *addr) {
-        return hw_addr_equal(addr, &HW_ADDR_NULL);
+        assert(addr);
+        return addr->length == 0 || memeqzero(addr->bytes, addr->length);
 }
 
 extern const struct hash_ops hw_addr_hash_ops;
diff --git a/src/network/networkctl.c b/src/network/networkctl.c
index 6dd05145c9..bb6e0f6b5b 100644
--- a/src/network/networkctl.c
+++ b/src/network/networkctl.c
@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@ static int decode_link(sd_netlink_message *m, LinkInfo *info, char **patterns, b
 
         info->has_mac_address =
                 netlink_message_read_hw_addr(m, IFLA_ADDRESS, &info->hw_address) >= 0 &&
-                !hw_addr_is_null(&info->hw_address);
+                info->hw_address.length > 0;
 
         info->has_permanent_mac_address =
                 ethtool_get_permanent_macaddr(NULL, info->name, &info->permanent_mac_address) >= 0 &&
diff --git a/src/network/networkd-link.c b/src/network/networkd-link.c
index ab2d42a482..5136a8820e 100644
--- a/src/network/networkd-link.c
+++ b/src/network/networkd-link.c
@@ -2036,7 +2036,7 @@ static int link_update_hardware_address(Link *link, sd_netlink_message *message)
         if (hw_addr_equal(&link->hw_addr, &addr))
                 return 0;
 
-        if (hw_addr_is_null(&link->hw_addr))
+        if (link->hw_addr.length == 0)
                 log_link_debug(link, "Saved hardware address: %s", HW_ADDR_TO_STR(&addr));
         else {
                 log_link_debug(link, "Hardware address is changed: %s → %s",