diff --git a/include/rdma/fabric.h b/include/rdma/fabric.h
index 42c50532797..2059fcbbdd2 100644
--- a/include/rdma/fabric.h
+++ b/include/rdma/fabric.h
@@ -346,6 +346,7 @@ enum {
 	FI_TAG_BITS,
 	FI_TAG_MPI,
 	FI_TAG_CCL,
+	FI_TAG_RPC,
 	FI_TAG_MAX_FORMAT = (1ULL << 16),
 };
 
diff --git a/man/fi_endpoint.3.md b/man/fi_endpoint.3.md
index 973ec8e73e4..6a210cf1b89 100644
--- a/man/fi_endpoint.3.md
+++ b/man/fi_endpoint.3.md
@@ -919,6 +919,17 @@ wire protocols.  The following tag formats are defined:
   Applications that use the CCL format pass in the payload identifier
   directly as the tag and set ignore bits to 0.
 
+*FI_TAG_RPC*
+
+: The FI_TAG_RPC flag is used to indicate that tags are being utilized to match
+  RPC requests and replies. When specified via fi_getinfo, the caller ensures that
+  a reply buffer with the corresponding tag is registered when sending a request.
+
+  This mechanism enables libfabric to identify and discard stale replies, preventing
+  them from interfering with new communications. This is crucial to avoid blocking
+  a restarting endpoint, which may otherwise lack sufficient metadata to process
+  incoming messages with unmatched tags.
+
 *FI_TAG_MAX_FORMAT*
 : If the value of mem_tag_format is >= FI_TAG_MAX_FORMAT, the tag format
   is treated as a set of bit fields.  The behavior is functionally the same
diff --git a/prov/tcp/src/xnet.h b/prov/tcp/src/xnet.h
index 486af642d47..d6dffc8c930 100644
--- a/prov/tcp/src/xnet.h
+++ b/prov/tcp/src/xnet.h
@@ -264,6 +264,7 @@ struct xnet_ep {
 	void (*hdr_bswap)(struct xnet_ep *ep, struct xnet_base_hdr *hdr);
 
 	short			pollflags;
+	bool			tagged_rpc;
 
 	xnet_profile_t *profile;
 };
@@ -428,6 +429,7 @@ static inline void xnet_signal_progress(struct xnet_progress *progress)
 #define XNET_COPY_RECV		BIT(9)
 #define XNET_CLAIM_RECV		BIT(10)
 #define XNET_NEED_CTS		BIT(11)
+#define XNET_UNEXP_XFER		BIT(12)
 #define XNET_MULTI_RECV		FI_MULTI_RECV /* BIT(16) */
 
 struct xnet_mrecv {
diff --git a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_cq.c b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_cq.c
index 2090bdf7170..294a3fe73d7 100644
--- a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_cq.c
+++ b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_cq.c
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ void xnet_report_success(struct xnet_xfer_entry *xfer_entry)
 	uint64_t flags, data, tag;
 	size_t len;
 
-	if (xfer_entry->ctrl_flags & (XNET_INTERNAL_XFER | XNET_SAVED_XFER))
+	if (xfer_entry->ctrl_flags & (XNET_INTERNAL_XFER | XNET_SAVED_XFER | XNET_UNEXP_XFER))
 		return;
 
 	if (xfer_entry->cntr)
diff --git a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_ep.c b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_ep.c
index 0ff5723d9d2..b6a7a60fd62 100644
--- a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_ep.c
+++ b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_ep.c
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@ xnet_ep_accept(struct fid_ep *ep_fid, const void *param, size_t paramlen)
 	    (paramlen > XNET_MAX_CM_DATA_SIZE))
 		return -FI_EINVAL;
 
+	ep->tagged_rpc = conn->pep->info->ep_attr->mem_tag_format == FI_TAG_RPC;
 	ep->conn = NULL;
 
 	assert(ep->cm_msg);
diff --git a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_init.c b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_init.c
index 0805ad94088..fd1f096223f 100644
--- a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_init.c
+++ b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_init.c
@@ -48,8 +48,16 @@ static int xnet_getinfo(uint32_t version, const char *node, const char *service,
 			uint64_t flags, const struct fi_info *hints,
 			struct fi_info **info)
 {
-	return ofi_ip_getinfo(&xnet_util_prov, version, node, service, flags,
-			     hints, info);
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = ofi_ip_getinfo(&xnet_util_prov, version, node, service, flags, hints, info);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
+
+	if (hints->ep_attr && hints->ep_attr->mem_tag_format && (*info)->ep_attr)
+		(*info)->ep_attr->mem_tag_format = hints->ep_attr->mem_tag_format;
+
+	return 0;
 }
 
 struct xnet_port_range xnet_ports = {
diff --git a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_progress.c b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_progress.c
index aa76968e175..f1ac38ddad6 100644
--- a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_progress.c
+++ b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_progress.c
@@ -103,6 +103,44 @@ static bool xnet_save_and_cont(struct xnet_ep *ep)
 	return (ep->saved_msg->cnt < xnet_max_saved);
 }
 
+static struct xnet_xfer_entry *
+xnet_get_unexp_rx(struct xnet_ep *ep, uint64_t tag)
+{
+	struct xnet_progress *progress;
+	struct xnet_xfer_entry *rx_entry;
+
+	progress = xnet_ep2_progress(ep);
+	assert(xnet_progress_locked(progress));
+	assert(ep->cur_rx.hdr_done == ep->cur_rx.hdr_len &&
+	       !ep->cur_rx.claim_ctx);
+
+	FI_DBG(&xnet_prov, FI_LOG_EP_DATA, "Unexp msg tag 0x%zx src %zu\n",
+	       tag, ep->peer->fi_addr);
+	rx_entry = xnet_alloc_xfer(xnet_srx2_progress(ep->srx));
+	if (!rx_entry)
+		return NULL;
+
+	rx_entry->saving_ep = NULL;
+	rx_entry->tag = tag;
+	rx_entry->ignore = 0;
+	rx_entry->ctrl_flags = XNET_UNEXP_XFER;
+
+	if (ep->cur_rx.data_left <= xnet_buf_size) {
+		rx_entry->user_buf = NULL;
+		rx_entry->iov[0].iov_base = &rx_entry->msg_data;
+		rx_entry->iov[0].iov_len = xnet_buf_size;
+		rx_entry->iov_cnt = 1;
+	} else if (xnet_alloc_xfer_buf(rx_entry, ep->cur_rx.data_left)) {
+		goto free_xfer;
+	}
+
+	return rx_entry;
+
+free_xfer:
+	xnet_free_xfer(progress, rx_entry);
+	return NULL;
+}
+
 static struct xnet_xfer_entry *
 xnet_get_save_rx(struct xnet_ep *ep, uint64_t tag)
 {
@@ -822,6 +860,14 @@ static int xnet_handle_tag(struct xnet_ep *ep)
 		if (rx_entry)
 			return xnet_start_recv(ep, rx_entry);
 	}
+
+	if (ep->tagged_rpc) {
+		/* receive and discard this unexpected message for tagged rpc */
+		rx_entry = xnet_get_unexp_rx(ep, tag);
+		if (rx_entry)
+			return xnet_start_recv(ep, rx_entry);
+	}
+
 	if (dlist_empty(&ep->unexp_entry)) {
 		dlist_insert_tail(&ep->unexp_entry,
 				  &xnet_ep2_progress(ep)->unexp_tag_list);
@@ -1102,7 +1148,7 @@ static void xnet_complete_rx(struct xnet_ep *ep, ssize_t ret)
 			goto cq_error;
 	}
 
-	if (!(rx_entry->ctrl_flags & XNET_SAVED_XFER)) {
+	if (!(rx_entry->ctrl_flags & XNET_SAVED_XFER) || (rx_entry->ctrl_flags & XNET_UNEXP_XFER)) {
 		xnet_report_success(rx_entry);
 		xnet_free_xfer(xnet_ep2_progress(ep), rx_entry);
 	} else {
diff --git a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_rdm.c b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_rdm.c
index 77456860569..a18426dc012 100644
--- a/prov/tcp/src/xnet_rdm.c
+++ b/prov/tcp/src/xnet_rdm.c
@@ -1044,6 +1044,8 @@ static int xnet_init_rdm(struct xnet_rdm *rdm, struct fi_info *info)
 	msg_info->tx_attr->op_flags = info->tx_attr->op_flags;
 	msg_info->rx_attr->caps &= info->rx_attr->caps;
 	msg_info->rx_attr->op_flags = info->rx_attr->op_flags;
+	if (info->ep_attr)
+		msg_info->ep_attr->mem_tag_format = info->ep_attr->mem_tag_format;
 
 	ret = fi_srx_context(&rdm->util_ep.domain->domain_fid, info->rx_attr,
 			     &srx, rdm);