diff --git a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
index 305248cfb5d2fa0f67f3fb1b4584145941dca0ec..6ff327c44c9fa741226a54a69e5d4414af230d1f 100644
--- a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
+++ b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
@@ -1852,6 +1852,11 @@ 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;