A method is implemented by a network device functioning as a switch in a software defined networking (SDN) network to detect data plane loops in the SDN network. The method includes receiving a packet, setting a value of a packet register associated with the packet to an initial loop count value, performing an arithmetic operation on the packet register to update the value of the packet register to an updated loop count value when the packet is to be resubmitted to a current flow table or a previous flow table of a packet processing pipeline of the switch, and determining that the packet is in a data plane loop in response to a determination that the updated loop count value is an invalid value.