diff --git a/rpm_spec/core-vm.spec b/rpm_spec/core-vm.spec
index 3158b57..0b9d5ff 100644
--- a/rpm_spec/core-vm.spec
+++ b/rpm_spec/core-vm.spec
@@ -237,6 +237,14 @@ sed 's/^net.ipv4.ip_forward.*/#\0/'  -i /etc/sysctl.conf
 sed -i -e '/^exclude = kernel/d' /etc/yum.conf
 echo 'exclude = kernel, xorg-x11-drv-*, xorg-x11-drivers, xorg-x11-server-*' >> /etc/yum.conf
 
+# qubes-core-vm has been broken for some time - it overrides /etc/hosts; restore original content
+if ! grep -q localhost /etc/hosts; then
+  cat <<EOF > /etc/hosts
+127.0.0.1   localhost localhost.localdomain localhost4 localhost4.localdomain4 `hostname`
+::1         localhost localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6
+EOF
+fi
+
 if [ "$1" !=  1 ] ; then
 # do the rest of %post thing only when updating for the first time...
 exit 0
diff --git a/vm-init.d/qubes_core b/vm-init.d/qubes_core
index 52bb1cd..7193d38 100755
--- a/vm-init.d/qubes_core
+++ b/vm-init.d/qubes_core
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ start()
 		# because it makes some of the pre-created dotfiles invalid (e.g. .kde/cache-<hostname>)
 		# (let's be frank: nobody's gonna use xterm on DispVM)
 		hostname $name
-		(grep -v "\<$name\>" /etc/hosts; echo "127.0.0.1 $name localhost") > /etc/hosts
+		sed -i "s/^\(127\.0\.0\.1 .*\) \($name \)\?\(.*\)/\1\2 $name/" /etc/hosts
 	fi
 
 	timezone=`/usr/bin/xenstore-read qubes-timezone 2> /dev/null`
diff --git a/vm-systemd/qubes-sysinit.sh b/vm-systemd/qubes-sysinit.sh
index 356a18b..02e2a9a 100755
--- a/vm-systemd/qubes-sysinit.sh
+++ b/vm-systemd/qubes-sysinit.sh
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ done
 name=`$XS_READ name`
 if [ -n "$name" ]; then
     hostname $name
-    (grep -v "\<$name\>" /etc/hosts; echo "127.0.0.1 $name localhost") > /etc/hosts
+    sed -i "s/^\(127\.0\.0\.1 .*\) \($name \)\?\(.*\)/\1\2 $name/" /etc/hosts
 fi
 
 timezone=`$XS_READ qubes-timezone 2> /dev/null`