diff --git a/net/sched/cls_api.c b/net/sched/cls_api.c
index a7dc7271042a..247b7cc20c13 100644
--- a/net/sched/cls_api.c
+++ b/net/sched/cls_api.c
@@ -1397,13 +1397,18 @@ static int tc_dump_tfilter(struct sk_buff *skb, struct netlink_callback *cb)
 		    nla_get_u32(tca[TCA_CHAIN]) != chain->index)
 			continue;
 		if (!tcf_chain_dump(chain, q, parent, skb, cb,
-				    index_start, &index))
+				    index_start, &index)) {
+			err = -EMSGSIZE;
 			break;
+		}
 	}
 
 	cb->args[0] = index;
 
 out:
+	/* If we did no progress, the error (EMSGSIZE) is real */
+	if (skb->len == 0 && err)
+		return err;
 	return skb->len;
 }