diff --git a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
index ada47e59647a0..81ba8e51e01ff 100644
--- a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
+++ b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
@@ -1871,6 +1871,11 @@ static int netlink_sendmsg(struct socket *sock, struct msghdr *msg, size_t len)
 	if (msg->msg_flags & MSG_OOB)
 		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
 
+	if (len == 0) {
+		pr_warn_once("Zero length message leads to an empty skb\n");
+		return -ENODATA;
+	}
+
 	err = scm_send(sock, msg, &scm, true);
 	if (err < 0)
 		return err;