diff --git a/src/util/virnetdevveth.c b/src/util/virnetdevveth.c
index 25eb282278..e698ce2c83 100644
--- a/src/util/virnetdevveth.c
+++ b/src/util/virnetdevveth.c
@@ -39,6 +39,19 @@
 
 /* Functions */
 
+virMutex virNetDevVethCreateMutex;
+
+static int virNetDevVethCreateMutexOnceInit(void)
+{
+    if (virMutexInit(&virNetDevVethCreateMutex) < 0) {
+        virReportSystemError(errno, "%s", _("unable to init mutex"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+
+VIR_ONCE_GLOBAL_INIT(virNetDevVethCreateMutex);
+
 static int virNetDevVethExists(int devNum)
 {
     int ret;
@@ -117,6 +130,10 @@ int virNetDevVethCreate(char** veth1, char** veth2)
      * We might race with other containers, but this is reasonably
      * unlikely, so don't do too many retries for device creation
      */
+    if (virNetDevVethCreateMutexInitialize() < 0)
+        return -1;
+
+    virMutexLock(&virNetDevVethCreateMutex);
 #define MAX_VETH_RETRIES 10
 
     for (i = 0; i < MAX_VETH_RETRIES; i++) {
@@ -179,6 +196,7 @@ int virNetDevVethCreate(char** veth1, char** veth2)
                    MAX_VETH_RETRIES);
 
 cleanup:
+    virMutexUnlock(&virNetDevVethCreateMutex);
     virCommandFree(cmd);
     VIR_FREE(veth1auto);
     VIR_FREE(veth2auto);