diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/oescripts.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/oescripts.py
index 5b0691a9ff..36acc006ca 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/oescripts.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/oescripts.py
@@ -123,8 +123,8 @@ class OEGitproxyTests(OEScriptTests):
 class OeRunNativeTest(OESelftestTestCase):
     def test_oe_run_native(self):
         bitbake("qemu-helper-native -c addto_recipe_sysroot")
-        result = runCmd("oe-run-native qemu-helper-native tunctl -h")
-        self.assertIn("Delete: tunctl -d device-name [-f tun-clone-device]", result.output)
+        result = runCmd("oe-run-native qemu-helper-native qemu-oe-bridge-helper", ignore_status=True)
+        self.assertIn("No bridge helper found", result.output)
 
 class OEListPackageconfigTests(OEScriptTests):
     #oe-core.scripts.List_all_the_PACKAGECONFIG's_flags
diff --git a/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/nativesdk-qemu-helper_1.0.bb b/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/nativesdk-qemu-helper_1.0.bb
index 2a5bcfb909..b100659a8c 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/nativesdk-qemu-helper_1.0.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/nativesdk-qemu-helper_1.0.bb
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@ RDEPENDS:${PN} = "nativesdk-qemu nativesdk-unfs3 nativesdk-pseudo \
 
 PR = "r9"
 
-LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://${WORKDIR}/tunctl.c;endline=4;md5=ff3a09996bc5fff6bc5d4e0b4c28f999 \
-                    file://${COREBASE}/scripts/runqemu;beginline=5;endline=10;md5=ac2b489a58739c7628a2604698db5e7f"
+LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://${COREBASE}/scripts/runqemu;beginline=5;endline=10;md5=ac2b489a58739c7628a2604698db5e7f"
 
 
 SRC_URI = "file://${COREBASE}/scripts/runqemu \
@@ -18,7 +17,6 @@ SRC_URI = "file://${COREBASE}/scripts/runqemu \
            file://${COREBASE}/scripts/oe-find-native-sysroot \
            file://${COREBASE}/scripts/runqemu-extract-sdk \
            file://${COREBASE}/scripts/runqemu-export-rootfs \
-           file://tunctl.c \
           "
 
 S = "${WORKDIR}"
@@ -26,12 +24,11 @@ S = "${WORKDIR}"
 inherit nativesdk
 
 do_compile() {
-	${CC} tunctl.c -o tunctl
+	:
 }
 
 do_install() {
 	install -d ${D}${bindir}
 	install -m 0755 ${WORKDIR}${COREBASE}/scripts/oe-* ${D}${bindir}/
 	install -m 0755 ${WORKDIR}${COREBASE}/scripts/runqemu* ${D}${bindir}/
-	install tunctl ${D}${bindir}/
 }
diff --git a/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/qemu-helper-native_1.0.bb b/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/qemu-helper-native_1.0.bb
index 6053b71717..4d64ea4b93 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/qemu-helper-native_1.0.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/qemu-helper-native_1.0.bb
@@ -3,25 +3,20 @@ LICENSE = "GPL-2.0-only"
 RDEPENDS:${PN} = "qemu-system-native"
 PR = "r1"
 
-LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://${WORKDIR}/tunctl.c;endline=4;md5=ff3a09996bc5fff6bc5d4e0b4c28f999"
+LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://${WORKDIR}/qemu-oe-bridge-helper.c;endline=4;md5=ae00a3bab86f2caaa8462eacda77f4d7"
 
-SRC_URI = "\
-    file://tunctl.c \
-    file://qemu-oe-bridge-helper.c \
-    "
+SRC_URI = "file://qemu-oe-bridge-helper.c"
 
 S = "${WORKDIR}"
 
 inherit native
 
 do_compile() {
-	${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${LDFLAGS} -Wall tunctl.c -o tunctl
 	${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${LDFLAGS} -Wall qemu-oe-bridge-helper.c -o qemu-oe-bridge-helper
 }
 
 do_install() {
 	install -d ${D}${bindir}
-	install tunctl ${D}${bindir}/
 	install qemu-oe-bridge-helper ${D}${bindir}/
 }
 
diff --git a/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/qemu-helper/tunctl.c b/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/qemu-helper/tunctl.c
deleted file mode 100644
index d745dd06cb..0000000000
--- a/meta/recipes-devtools/qemu/qemu-helper/tunctl.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,158 +0,0 @@
-/* Copyright 2002 Jeff Dike
- * Licensed under the GPL
- */
-
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include <stdlib.h>
-#include <string.h>
-#include <errno.h>
-#include <fcntl.h>
-#include <unistd.h>
-#include <pwd.h>
-#include <grp.h>
-#include <net/if.h>
-#include <sys/ioctl.h>
-#include <linux/if_tun.h>
-
-/* TUNSETGROUP appeared in 2.6.23 */
-#ifndef TUNSETGROUP
-#define TUNSETGROUP   _IOW('T', 206, int)
-#endif
-
-static void Usage(char *name, int status)
-{
-  fprintf(stderr, "Create: %s [-b] [-u owner] [-g group] [-t device-name] "
-	  "[-f tun-clone-device]\n", name);
-  fprintf(stderr, "Delete: %s -d device-name [-f tun-clone-device]\n\n",
-	  name);
-  fprintf(stderr, "The default tun clone device is /dev/net/tun - some systems"
-	  " use\n/dev/misc/net/tun instead\n\n");
-  fprintf(stderr, "-b will result in brief output (just the device name)\n");
-  exit(status);
-}
-
-int main(int argc, char **argv)
-{
-  struct ifreq ifr;
-  struct passwd *pw;
-  struct group *gr;
-  uid_t owner = -1;
-  gid_t group = -1;
-  int tap_fd, opt, delete = 0, brief = 0;
-  char *tun = "", *file = "/dev/net/tun", *name = argv[0], *end;
-
-  while((opt = getopt(argc, argv, "bd:f:t:u:g:h")) > 0){
-    switch(opt) {
-      case 'b':
-        brief = 1;
-        break;
-      case 'd':
-        delete = 1;
-	tun = optarg;
-        break;
-      case 'f':
-	file = optarg;
-	break;
-      case 'u':
-	pw = getpwnam(optarg);
-	if(pw != NULL){
-	  owner = pw->pw_uid;
-	  break;
-	}
-        owner = strtol(optarg, &end, 0);
-	if(*end != '\0'){
-	  fprintf(stderr, "'%s' is neither a username nor a numeric uid.\n",
-		  optarg);
-	  Usage(name, 1);
-	}
-        break;
-      case 'g':
-	gr = getgrnam(optarg);
-	if(gr != NULL){
-	  group = gr->gr_gid;
-	  break;
-	}
-        group = strtol(optarg, &end, 0);
-	if(*end != '\0'){
-	  fprintf(stderr, "'%s' is neither a groupname nor a numeric group.\n",
-		  optarg);
-	  Usage(name, 1);
-	}
-        break;
-
-      case 't':
-        tun = optarg;
-        break;
-      case 'h':
-        Usage(name, 0);
-        break;
-      default:
-        Usage(name, 1);
-    }
-  }
-
-  argv += optind;
-  argc -= optind;
-
-  if(argc > 0)
-    Usage(name, 1);
-
-  if((tap_fd = open(file, O_RDWR)) < 0){
-    fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open '%s' : ", file);
-    perror("");
-    exit(1);
-  }
-
-  memset(&ifr, 0, sizeof(ifr));
-
-  ifr.ifr_flags = IFF_TAP | IFF_NO_PI;
-  strncpy(ifr.ifr_name, tun, sizeof(ifr.ifr_name) - 1);
-  if(ioctl(tap_fd, TUNSETIFF, (void *) &ifr) < 0){
-    perror("TUNSETIFF");
-    exit(1);
-  }
-
-  if(delete){
-    if(ioctl(tap_fd, TUNSETPERSIST, 0) < 0){
-      perror("disabling TUNSETPERSIST");
-      exit(1);
-    }
-    printf("Set '%s' nonpersistent\n", ifr.ifr_name);
-  }
-  else {
-    /* emulate behaviour prior to TUNSETGROUP */
-    if(owner == -1 && group == -1) {
-      owner = geteuid();
-    }
-
-    if(owner != -1) {
-      if(ioctl(tap_fd, TUNSETOWNER, owner) < 0){
-      	perror("TUNSETOWNER");
-      	exit(1);
-      }
-    }
-    if(group != -1) {
-      if(ioctl(tap_fd, TUNSETGROUP, group) < 0){
-      	perror("TUNSETGROUP");
-      	exit(1);
-      }
-    }
-
-    if(ioctl(tap_fd, TUNSETPERSIST, 1) < 0){
-      perror("enabling TUNSETPERSIST");
-      exit(1);
-    }
-
-    if(brief)
-      printf("%s\n", ifr.ifr_name);
-    else {
-      printf("Set '%s' persistent and owned by", ifr.ifr_name);
-      if(owner != -1)
-          printf(" uid %d", owner);
-      if(group != -1)
-          printf(" gid %d", group);
-      printf("\n");
-    }
-  }
-  return(0);
-}
diff --git a/scripts/runqemu-gen-tapdevs b/scripts/runqemu-gen-tapdevs
index ffb82adce6..4f8ea979d2 100755
--- a/scripts/runqemu-gen-tapdevs
+++ b/scripts/runqemu-gen-tapdevs
@@ -1,11 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 #
 # Create a "bank" of tap network devices that can be used by the
-# runqemu script. This script needs to be run as root, and will
-# use the tunctl binary from the build system sysroot. Note: many Linux 
-# distros these days still use an older version of tunctl which does not
-# support the group permissions option, hence the need to use the build
-# system provided version.
+# runqemu script. This script needs to be run as root
 #
 # Copyright (C) 2010 Intel Corp.
 #
@@ -62,29 +58,17 @@ if [ ! -x "$RUNQEMU_IFUP" ]; then
 	exit 1
 fi
 
-TUNCTL=$STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE/tunctl
-ip_supports_tuntap=false
 if interfaces=`ip tuntap list` 2>/dev/null; then
-	ip_supports_tuntap=true
 	interfaces=`echo "$interfaces |cut -f1 -d:`
-elif [[ ! -x "$TUNCTL" || -d "$TUNCTL" ]]; then
-	echo "Error: $TUNCTL is not an executable"
-	usage
-elif interfaces=`ip link` 2>/dev/null; then
-	interfaces=`echo "$interfaces" | sed '/^[0-9]\+: \(docker[0-9]\+\):.*/!d; s//\1/'`
 else
-	echo "Failed to call 'ip link'" >&2
+	echo "Failed to call 'ip tuntap list'" >&2
 	exit 1
 fi
 
 # Ensure we start with a clean slate
 for tap in $interfaces; do
 	echo "Note: Destroying pre-existing tap interface $tap..."
-	if $ip_supports_tuntap; then
-		ip tuntap del $tap mode tap
-	else
-		$TUNCTL -d $tap
-	fi
+	ip tuntap del $tap mode tap
 done
 rm -f /etc/runqemu-nosudo
 
@@ -95,8 +79,8 @@ fi
 echo "Creating $COUNT tap devices for UID: $TUID GID: $GID..."
 for ((index=0; index < $COUNT; index++)); do
 	echo "Creating tap$index"
-	if ! ifup=`$RUNQEMU_IFUP $TUID $GID $STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE 2>&1`; then
-		echo "Error running tunctl: $ifup"
+	if ! ifup=`$RUNQEMU_IFUP $TUID $GID 2>&1`; then
+		echo "Error bringing up interface: $ifup"
 		exit 1
 	fi
 done
diff --git a/scripts/runqemu-ifdown b/scripts/runqemu-ifdown
index f72166b32b..98ac7f07b3 100755
--- a/scripts/runqemu-ifdown
+++ b/scripts/runqemu-ifdown
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 #
 # QEMU network configuration script to bring down tap devices. This
-# utility needs to be run as root, and will use the tunctl binary
-# from the native sysroot. 
+# utility needs to be run as root, and will use the ip utility
 #
 # If you find yourself calling this script a lot, you can add the
 # the following to your /etc/sudoers file to be able to run this
@@ -34,13 +33,8 @@ TAP=$1
 STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE=$2
 
 if !ip tuntap del $TAP mode tap 2>/dev/null; then
-	TUNCTL=$STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE/tunctl
-	if [ ! -e "$TUNCTL" ]; then
-		echo "Error: Unable to find tunctl binary in '$STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE', please bitbake qemu-helper-native"
-		exit 1
-	fi
-
-	$TUNCTL -d $TAP
+	echo "Error: Unable to run up tuntap del"
+	exit 1
 fi
 
 IFCONFIG=`which ip 2> /dev/null`
diff --git a/scripts/runqemu-ifup b/scripts/runqemu-ifup
index 5fdcddeeda..237bf2a07b 100755
--- a/scripts/runqemu-ifup
+++ b/scripts/runqemu-ifup
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 #
 # QEMU network interface configuration script. This utility needs to
-# be run as root, and will use the tunctl binary from a native sysroot.
-# Note: many Linux distros these days still use an older version of
-# tunctl which does not support the group permissions option, hence
-# the need to use build system's version.
+# be run as root, and will use the ip utility
 #
 # If you find yourself calling this script a lot, you can add the
 # the following to your /etc/sudoers file to be able to run this
@@ -39,7 +36,6 @@ fi
 
 USERID="-u $1"
 GROUP="-g $2"
-STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE=$3
 
 if taps=$(ip tuntap list 2>/dev/null); then
 	tap_no=$(( $(echo "$taps" |sort -r |sed 's/^tap//; s/:.*//; q') + 1 ))
@@ -47,24 +43,8 @@ if taps=$(ip tuntap list 2>/dev/null); then
 fi
 
 if [ -z $TAP ]; then
-	TUNCTL=$STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE/tunctl
-	if [ ! -x "$TUNCTL" ]; then
-		echo "Error: Unable to find tunctl binary in '$STAGING_BINDIR_NATIVE', please bitbake qemu-helper-native"
-		exit 1
-	fi
-
-	TAP=`$TUNCTL -b $GROUP 2>&1`
-	STATUS=$?
-	if [ $STATUS -ne 0 ]; then
-	# If tunctl -g fails, try using tunctl -u, for older host kernels
-	# which do not support the TUNSETGROUP ioctl
-		TAP=`$TUNCTL -b $USERID 2>&1`
-		STATUS=$?
-		if [ $STATUS -ne 0 ]; then
-			echo "tunctl failed:"
-			exit 1
-		fi
-	fi
+	echo "Error: Unable to find a tap device to use"
+	exit 1
 fi
 
 IFCONFIG=`which ip 2> /dev/null`