diff --git a/net/sched/cls_api.c b/net/sched/cls_api.c
index 934c239cf98d..c2fab4bcb8be 100644
--- a/net/sched/cls_api.c
+++ b/net/sched/cls_api.c
@@ -871,13 +871,18 @@ static int tc_dump_tfilter(struct sk_buff *skb, struct netlink_callback *cb)
 		if (tca[TCA_CHAIN] &&
 		    nla_get_u32(tca[TCA_CHAIN]) != chain->index)
 			continue;
-		if (!tcf_chain_dump(chain, skb, cb, index_start, &index))
+		if (!tcf_chain_dump(chain, skb, cb, 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;
 }