diff --git a/lib/puppet/provider/network_device.rb b/lib/puppet/provider/network_device.rb
index 46be27968..6d754e13d 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/provider/network_device.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/provider/network_device.rb
@@ -1,68 +1,71 @@
 
 # This is the base class of all prefetched network device provider
 class Puppet::Provider::NetworkDevice < Puppet::Provider
 
   def self.device(url)
     raise "This provider doesn't implement the necessary device method"
   end
 
   def self.lookup(device, name)
     raise "This provider doesn't implement the necessary lookup method"
   end
 
   def self.prefetch(resources)
     resources.each do |name, resource|
       device = Puppet::Util::NetworkDevice.current || device(resource[:device_url])
       if result = lookup(device, name)
         result[:ensure] = :present
         resource.provider = new(device, result)
       else
         resource.provider = new(device, :ensure => :absent)
       end
     end
+  rescue => detail
+    # Preserving behavior introduced in #6907
+    Puppet.log_exception(detail, "Could not perform network device prefetch: #{detail}")
   end
 
   def exists?
     @property_hash[:ensure] != :absent
   end
 
   attr_accessor :device
 
   def initialize(device, *args)
     super(*args)
 
     @device = device
 
     # Make a duplicate, so that we have a copy for comparison
     # at the end.
     @properties = @property_hash.dup
   end
 
   def create
     @property_hash[:ensure] = :present
     self.class.resource_type.validproperties.each do |property|
       if val = resource.should(property)
         @property_hash[property] = val
       end
     end
   end
 
   def destroy
     @property_hash[:ensure] = :absent
   end
 
   def flush
     @property_hash.clear
   end
 
   def self.instances
   end
 
   def former_properties
     @properties.dup
   end
 
   def properties
     @property_hash.dup
   end
 end