diff --git a/libnm-core/nm-setting-bond.c b/libnm-core/nm-setting-bond.c
index c6482da657..a82d0d792c 100644
--- a/libnm-core/nm-setting-bond.c
+++ b/libnm-core/nm-setting-bond.c
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ static const BondDefault defaults[] = {
 	  { "slow", "fast", NULL } },
 	{ NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_ACTIVE_SLAVE,     "",           NM_BOND_OPTION_TYPE_IFNAME },
 	{ NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_AD_ACTOR_SYS_PRIO,"65535",      NM_BOND_OPTION_TYPE_INT, 1, 65535 },
-	{ NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_AD_ACTOR_SYSTEM,  "",           NM_BOND_OPTION_TYPE_MAC },
+	{ NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_AD_ACTOR_SYSTEM,  NULL,         NM_BOND_OPTION_TYPE_MAC },
 	{ NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_AD_USER_PORT_KEY, "0",          NM_BOND_OPTION_TYPE_INT, 0, 1023},
 	{ NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_ALL_SLAVES_ACTIVE,"0",          NM_BOND_OPTION_TYPE_INT, 0, 1},
 	{ NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_ARP_ALL_TARGETS,  "any",        NM_BOND_OPTION_TYPE_BOTH, 0, 1, {"any", "all"}},
@@ -427,11 +427,22 @@ nm_setting_bond_get_valid_options  (NMSettingBond *setting)
 const char *
 nm_setting_bond_get_option_default (NMSettingBond *setting, const char *name)
 {
+	const char *mode;
 	guint i;
 
 	g_return_val_if_fail (NM_IS_SETTING_BOND (setting), NULL);
 	g_return_val_if_fail (nm_setting_bond_validate_option (name, NULL), NULL);
 
+	if (nm_streq (name, NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_AD_ACTOR_SYSTEM)) {
+		/* The default value depends on the current mode */
+		mode = nm_setting_bond_get_option_by_name (setting, NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_MODE);
+		if (   nm_streq0 (mode, "4")
+		    || nm_streq0 (mode, "802.3ad"))
+			return "00:00:00:00:00:00";
+		else
+			return "";
+	}
+
 	for (i = 0; i < G_N_ELEMENTS (defaults); i++) {
 		if (g_strcmp0 (defaults[i].opt, name) == 0)
 			return defaults[i].val;
diff --git a/src/devices/nm-device-bond.c b/src/devices/nm-device-bond.c
index 0445ca2067..3e62c7809d 100644
--- a/src/devices/nm-device-bond.c
+++ b/src/devices/nm-device-bond.c
@@ -329,6 +329,11 @@ apply_bonding_config (NMDevice *device)
 	set_arp_targets (device, mode, value, ",", "+");
 	g_free (contents);
 
+	/* AD actor system: don't set if empty */
+	value = nm_setting_bond_get_option_by_name (s_bond, NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_AD_ACTOR_SYSTEM);
+	if (value)
+		set_bond_attr (device, mode, "ad_actor_system", value);
+
 	set_simple_option (device, mode, "primary_reselect", s_bond, NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_PRIMARY_RESELECT);
 	set_simple_option (device, mode, "fail_over_mac", s_bond, NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_FAIL_OVER_MAC);
 	set_simple_option (device, mode, "use_carrier", s_bond, NM_SETTING_BOND_OPTION_USE_CARRIER);