diff --git a/epan/dfilter/scanner.l b/epan/dfilter/scanner.l
index c8838a7219..cd63e08e7e 100644
--- a/epan/dfilter/scanner.l
+++ b/epan/dfilter/scanner.l
@@ -378,8 +378,12 @@ v6-cidr-prefix	\/[[:digit:]]{1,3}
 	return set_lval_str(TOKEN_UNPARSED, yytext);
 }
 
-[[:xdigit:]]+:[[:xdigit:]:]*		{
+:?[[:xdigit:]]+:[[:xdigit:]:]*		{
 	/* Bytes. */
+	if (yytext[0] == ':') {
+		/* Skip leading colon. */
+		return set_lval_str(TOKEN_LITERAL, yytext + 1);
+	}
 	return set_lval_str(TOKEN_UNPARSED, yytext);
 }
 
@@ -392,8 +396,10 @@ v6-cidr-prefix	\/[[:digit:]]{1,3}
 	/* Identifier or literal or unparsed. */
 	if (yytext[0] == '.')
 		return set_lval_str(TOKEN_IDENTIFIER, yytext);
-	if (yytext[0] == ':')
-		return set_lval_str(TOKEN_LITERAL, yytext);
+	if (yytext[0] == ':') {
+		/* Skip leading colon. */
+		return set_lval_str(TOKEN_LITERAL, yytext + 1);
+	}
 	return set_lval_str(TOKEN_UNPARSED, yytext);
 }
 
diff --git a/epan/ftypes/ftypes.c b/epan/ftypes/ftypes.c
index eea3a7e9a8..305a84b43c 100644
--- a/epan/ftypes/ftypes.c
+++ b/epan/ftypes/ftypes.c
@@ -372,14 +372,7 @@ fvalue_from_literal(ftenum_t ftype, const char *s, gboolean allow_partial_value,
 
 	fv = fvalue_new(ftype);
 	if (fv->ftype->val_from_literal) {
-		if (*s == ':') {
-			ok = fv->ftype->val_from_literal(fv, s + 1, allow_partial_value, err_msg);
-			/* If not ok maybe leading colon is not special syntax but part of the value (e.g: IPv6),
-			 * try again in that case. */
-		}
-		if (!ok) {
-			ok = fv->ftype->val_from_literal(fv, s, allow_partial_value, err_msg);
-		}
+		ok = fv->ftype->val_from_literal(fv, s, allow_partial_value, err_msg);
 		if (ok) {
 			/* Success */
 			if (err_msg != NULL)