diff --git a/include/netlink/utils.h b/include/netlink/utils.h
index ac448c5b1..c8b4d2ec5 100644
--- a/include/netlink/utils.h
+++ b/include/netlink/utils.h
@@ -135,6 +135,14 @@ enum {
 	NL_CAPABILITY_VERSION_3_2_26 = 7,
 #define NL_CAPABILITY_VERSION_3_2_26 NL_CAPABILITY_VERSION_3_2_26
 
+	/**
+	 * nl_recv() fails with NLE_MSG_TRUNC if a message got truncated
+	 * with NL_MSG_PEEK disabled. Previously, the failed message was wrongly
+	 * discarded and the next message received.
+	 */
+	NL_CAPABILITY_NL_RECV_FAIL_TRUNK_NO_PEEK = 8,
+#define NL_CAPABILITY_NL_RECV_FAIL_TRUNK_NO_PEEK NL_CAPABILITY_NL_RECV_FAIL_TRUNK_NO_PEEK
+
 	__NL_CAPABILITY_MAX,
 	NL_CAPABILITY_MAX = (__NL_CAPABILITY_MAX - 1),
 #define NL_CAPABILITY_MAX NL_CAPABILITY_MAX
diff --git a/lib/nl.c b/lib/nl.c
index 8fc9ec104..f06e9a0a3 100644
--- a/lib/nl.c
+++ b/lib/nl.c
@@ -725,6 +725,13 @@ int nl_recv(struct nl_sock *sk, struct sockaddr_nl *nla,
 
 	if (iov.iov_len < n || (msg.msg_flags & MSG_TRUNC)) {
 		void *tmp;
+
+		/* respond with error to an incomplete message */
+		if (!(sk->s_flags & NL_MSG_PEEK)) {
+			retval = -NLE_MSG_TRUNC;
+			goto abort;
+		}
+
 		/* Provided buffer is not long enough, enlarge it
 		 * to size of n (which should be total length of the message)
 		 * and try again. */
diff --git a/lib/utils.c b/lib/utils.c
index 82f14ace5..aa0d1e111 100644
--- a/lib/utils.c
+++ b/lib/utils.c
@@ -1150,7 +1150,7 @@ int nl_has_capability (int capability)
 			NL_CAPABILITY_ROUTE_LINK_GET_KERNEL_FAIL_OPNOTSUPP,
 			NL_CAPABILITY_ROUTE_ADDR_COMPARE_CACHEINFO,
 			NL_CAPABILITY_VERSION_3_2_26,
-			0),
+			NL_CAPABILITY_NL_RECV_FAIL_TRUNK_NO_PEEK),
 		/* IMPORTANT: these capability numbers are intended to be universal and stable
 		 * for libnl3. Don't allocate new numbers on your own that differ from upstream
 		 * libnl3.