diff --git a/docs/containers.conf.5.md b/docs/containers.conf.5.md
index 3e539d784..b8e4a00be 100644
--- a/docs/containers.conf.5.md
+++ b/docs/containers.conf.5.md
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ and pods are visible.
 
 Path to the slirp4netns binary.
 
-**network_cmd_options**=[]
+**network_cmd_options**=["enable_ipv6=true",]
 
 Default options to pass to the slirp4netns binary.
 
diff --git a/pkg/config/config_test.go b/pkg/config/config_test.go
index 4c9d1f155..5e3e00446 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config_test.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config_test.go
@@ -200,6 +200,10 @@ image_copy_tmp_dir="storage"`
 				"TERM=xterm",
 			}
 
+			networkCmdOptions := []string{
+				"enable_ipv6=true",
+			}
+
 			helperDirs := []string{
 				"/somepath",
 			}
@@ -213,6 +217,7 @@ image_copy_tmp_dir="storage"`
 			gomega.Expect(defaultConfig.Engine.NumLocks).To(gomega.BeEquivalentTo(2048))
 			gomega.Expect(defaultConfig.Engine.OCIRuntimes).To(gomega.Equal(OCIRuntimeMap))
 			gomega.Expect(defaultConfig.Containers.HTTPProxy).To(gomega.Equal(false))
+			gomega.Expect(defaultConfig.Engine.NetworkCmdOptions).To(gomega.BeEquivalentTo(networkCmdOptions))
 			gomega.Expect(defaultConfig.Engine.HelperBinariesDir).To(gomega.Equal(helperDirs))
 			gomega.Expect(defaultConfig.Engine.ServiceTimeout).To(gomega.BeEquivalentTo(300))
 		})
diff --git a/pkg/config/containers.conf b/pkg/config/containers.conf
index 433d81c78..7c72ec79f 100644
--- a/pkg/config/containers.conf
+++ b/pkg/config/containers.conf
@@ -422,7 +422,7 @@ default_sysctls = [
 # Default options to pass to the slirp4netns binary.
 # For example "allow_host_loopback=true"
 #
-#network_cmd_options = []
+#network_cmd_options = ["enable_ipv6=true",]
 
 # Whether to use chroot instead of pivot_root in the runtime
 #
diff --git a/pkg/config/default.go b/pkg/config/default.go
index e6a81f472..a3fdc9529 100644
--- a/pkg/config/default.go
+++ b/pkg/config/default.go
@@ -259,7 +259,9 @@ func defaultConfigFromMemory() (*EngineConfig, error) {
 	c.CgroupManager = defaultCgroupManager()
 	c.ServiceTimeout = uint(5)
 	c.StopTimeout = uint(10)
-
+	c.NetworkCmdOptions = []string{
+		"enable_ipv6=true",
+	}
 	c.Remote = isRemote()
 	c.OCIRuntimes = map[string][]string{
 		"crun": {