In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a router determines whether or not to establish a stateful routing session based on the suitability of one or more candidate return path interfaces. This determination is typically made at the time a first packet for a new session arrives at the router on a given ingress interface. In some cases, the router may be configured to require that the ingress interface be used for the return path of the session, in which case the router may evaluate whether the ingress interface is suitable for the return path and may drop the session if the ingress interface is deemed by the router to be unsuitable for the return path. In other cases, the router may be configured to not require that the ingress interface be used for the return path, in which case the router may evaluate whether at least one interface is suitable for the return path and drop the session if no interface is deemed by the router to be suitable for the return path.