diff --git a/meta/recipes-graphics/directfb/directfb.inc b/meta/recipes-graphics/directfb/directfb.inc
index 46748988ea..46e0838f79 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-graphics/directfb/directfb.inc
+++ b/meta/recipes-graphics/directfb/directfb.inc
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ SRC_URI = "http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/DirectFB-${PV}.tar.g
            file://compar_fn_t.patch \
            file://union-sigval.patch \
            file://use-PTHREAD_MUTEX_RECURSIVE.patch \
+           file://fix-client-gfx_state-initialisation.patch \
           "
 
 S = "${WORKDIR}/DirectFB-${PV}"
diff --git a/meta/recipes-graphics/directfb/directfb/fix-client-gfx_state-initialisation.patch b/meta/recipes-graphics/directfb/directfb/fix-client-gfx_state-initialisation.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..57a9b0dc7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/recipes-graphics/directfb/directfb/fix-client-gfx_state-initialisation.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+From 8e53c0b9cedb62b82e2b7680d793d433b647ae20 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Andre McCurdy <armccurdy@gmail.com>
+Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2016 13:32:44 -0700
+Subject: [PATCH] fix client->gfx_state initialisation
+
+Shortly before the DirectFB 1.7.7 release, an optimisation was added
+to CoreGraphicsStateClient_Init() to avoid creating an extended
+Graphics State object if it will not later be required:
+
+  4d422fb Client: Create extended Graphics State object when needed for later usage
+
+Unfortunately the client->gfx_state variable used to track the
+extended Graphics State object is not initialised, which can lead to
+crashes etc due to creation of the Graphics State object erroneously
+being skipped.
+
+Upstream-Status: Pending
+
+Signed-off-by: Andre McCurdy <armccurdy@gmail.com>
+---
+ src/core/CoreGraphicsStateClient.cpp | 1 +
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
+
+diff --git a/src/core/CoreGraphicsStateClient.cpp b/src/core/CoreGraphicsStateClient.cpp
+index 5d46f0e..5007755 100644
+--- a/src/core/CoreGraphicsStateClient.cpp
++++ b/src/core/CoreGraphicsStateClient.cpp
+@@ -364,6 +364,7 @@ CoreGraphicsStateClient_Init( CoreGraphicsStateClient *client,
+      client->renderer  = NULL;
+      client->requestor = NULL;
+      client->throttle  = NULL;
++     client->gfx_state = NULL;
+ 
+      if (dfb_config->task_manager) {
+           if (dfb_config->call_nodirect) {
+-- 
+1.9.1
+