diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/forwarding/tc_actions.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/forwarding/tc_actions.sh
index a96cff8e72197..b0f5e55d2d0b2 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/forwarding/tc_actions.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/forwarding/tc_actions.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ NUM_NETIFS=4
 source tc_common.sh
 source lib.sh
 
+require_command ncat
+
 tcflags="skip_hw"
 
 h1_create()
@@ -220,9 +222,9 @@ mirred_egress_to_ingress_tcp_test()
 		ip_proto icmp \
 			action drop
 
-	ip vrf exec v$h1 nc --recv-only -w10 -l -p 12345 -o $mirred_e2i_tf2  &
+	ip vrf exec v$h1 ncat --recv-only -w10 -l -p 12345 -o $mirred_e2i_tf2 &
 	local rpid=$!
-	ip vrf exec v$h1 nc -w1 --send-only 192.0.2.2 12345 <$mirred_e2i_tf1
+	ip vrf exec v$h1 ncat -w1 --send-only 192.0.2.2 12345 <$mirred_e2i_tf1
 	wait -n $rpid
 	cmp -s $mirred_e2i_tf1 $mirred_e2i_tf2
 	check_err $? "server output check failed"