diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/forwarding/lib.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/forwarding/lib.sh
index 0e73698b2048..85d253546684 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/forwarding/lib.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/forwarding/lib.sh
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ lldpad_app_wait_set()
 {
 	local dev=$1; shift
 
-	while lldptool -t -i $dev -V APP -c app | grep -q pending; do
+	while lldptool -t -i $dev -V APP -c app | grep -Eq "pending|unknown"; do
 		echo "$dev: waiting for lldpad to push pending APP updates"
 		sleep 5
 	done