diff --git a/vnet/vnet/devices/dpdk/dpdk.h b/vnet/vnet/devices/dpdk/dpdk.h
index 2dab4ef..2a9d825 100644
--- a/vnet/vnet/devices/dpdk/dpdk.h
+++ b/vnet/vnet/devices/dpdk/dpdk.h
@@ -322,6 +322,7 @@
 
   /* Config stuff */
   u8 ** eal_init_args;
+  u8 * eal_init_args_str;
   u8 * eth_if_blacklist;
   u8 * eth_if_whitelist;
   u8 * uio_driver_name;
diff --git a/vnet/vnet/devices/dpdk/init.c b/vnet/vnet/devices/dpdk/init.c
index 28a661f..db0b838 100644
--- a/vnet/vnet/devices/dpdk/init.c
+++ b/vnet/vnet/devices/dpdk/init.c
@@ -1436,6 +1436,11 @@
 
   vm = dm->vlib_main;
 
+  /* make copy of args as rte_eal_init tends to mess up with arg array */
+  for (i = 1; i < vec_len(dm->eal_init_args); i++)
+    dm->eal_init_args_str = format(dm->eal_init_args_str, "%s ",
+                                   dm->eal_init_args[i]);
+
   ret = rte_eal_init(vec_len(dm->eal_init_args), (char **) dm->eal_init_args);
 
   /* lazy umount hugepages */