diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/eclass/cargo.eclass b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/eclass/cargo.eclass
index 1e1a6e3ddf..3bdbb5e3ec 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/eclass/cargo.eclass
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/portage-stable/eclass/cargo.eclass
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 1999-2023 Gentoo Authors
+# Copyright 1999-2024 Gentoo Authors
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
 # @ECLASS: cargo.eclass
@@ -331,6 +331,9 @@ cargo_src_unpack() {
 	for archive in ${A}; do
 		case "${archive}" in
 			*.crate)
+				# when called by pkgdiff-mg, do not unpack crates
+				[[ ${PKGBUMPING} == ${PVR} ]] && continue
+
 				ebegin "Loading ${archive} into Cargo registry"
 				tar -xf "${DISTDIR}"/${archive} -C "${ECARGO_VENDOR}/" || die
 				# generate sha256sum of the crate itself as cargo needs this