diff --git a/net/ipv6/route.c b/net/ipv6/route.c
index 7db0c837196c..08cd86f49bf9 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/route.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/route.c
@@ -3583,7 +3583,6 @@ int fib6_nh_init(struct net *net, struct fib6_nh *fib6_nh,
 	netdevice_tracker *dev_tracker = &fib6_nh->fib_nh_dev_tracker;
 	struct net_device *dev = NULL;
 	struct inet6_dev *idev = NULL;
-	int addr_type;
 	int err;
 
 	fib6_nh->fib_nh_family = AF_INET6;
@@ -3625,11 +3624,10 @@ int fib6_nh_init(struct net *net, struct fib6_nh *fib6_nh,
 
 	fib6_nh->fib_nh_weight = 1;
 
-	/* We cannot add true routes via loopback here,
-	 * they would result in kernel looping; promote them to reject routes
+	/* Reset the nexthop device to the loopback device in case of reject
+	 * routes.
 	 */
-	addr_type = ipv6_addr_type(&cfg->fc_dst);
-	if (fib6_is_reject(cfg->fc_flags, dev, addr_type)) {
+	if (cfg->fc_flags & RTF_REJECT) {
 		/* hold loopback dev/idev if we haven't done so. */
 		if (dev != net->loopback_dev) {
 			if (dev) {
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/fib_nexthops.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/fib_nexthops.sh
index 21026b667667..6eb7f95e70e1 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/fib_nexthops.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/fib_nexthops.sh
@@ -1672,6 +1672,17 @@ ipv4_withv6_fcnal()
 
 	run_cmd "$IP ro replace 172.16.101.1/32 via inet6 2001:db8:50::1 dev veth1"
 	log_test $? 2 "IPv4 route with invalid IPv6 gateway"
+
+	# Test IPv4 route with loopback IPv6 nexthop
+	# Regression test: loopback IPv6 nexthop was misclassified as reject
+	# route, skipping nhc_pcpu_rth_output allocation, causing panic when
+	# an IPv4 route references it and triggers __mkroute_output().
+	run_cmd "$IP -6 nexthop add id 20 dev lo"
+	run_cmd "$IP ro add 172.20.20.0/24 nhid 20"
+	run_cmd "ip netns exec $me ping -c1 -W1 172.20.20.1"
+	log_test $? 1 "IPv4 route with loopback IPv6 nexthop (no crash)"
+	run_cmd "$IP ro del 172.20.20.0/24"
+	run_cmd "$IP nexthop del id 20"
 }
 
 ipv4_fcnal_runtime()