diff --git a/src/mnl.c b/src/mnl.c
index 26f943db..dcc22b82 100644
--- a/src/mnl.c
+++ b/src/mnl.c
@@ -259,10 +259,19 @@ static void mnl_set_sndbuffer(const struct mnl_socket *nl,
 	if (newbuffsiz <= sndnlbuffsiz)
 		return;
 
-	/* Rise sender buffer length to avoid hitting -EMSGSIZE */
-	if (setsockopt(mnl_socket_get_fd(nl), SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDBUFFORCE,
-		       &newbuffsiz, sizeof(socklen_t)) < 0)
-		return;
+	/* Raise sender buffer length to avoid hitting -EMSGSIZE.  The kernel may
+	 * reduce this to /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_max, see socket(7).
+	 */
+	sndnlbuffsiz = newbuffsiz;
+	if (setsockopt(mnl_socket_get_fd(nl), SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDBUF,
+		   &sndnlbuffsiz, sizeof(socklen_t)) < 0 || sndnlbuffsiz < newbuffsiz) {
+		/* If SO_SNDBUF failed or the resulting size is still too small, try
+		 * again with SO_SNDBUFFORCE.  This requires CAP_NET_ADMIN.
+		 */
+		sndnlbuffsiz = newbuffsiz;
+		setsockopt(mnl_socket_get_fd(nl), SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDBUFFORCE,
+		   &sndnlbuffsiz, sizeof(socklen_t));
+	}
 }
 
 static unsigned int nlsndbufsiz;
@@ -280,14 +289,16 @@ static int mnl_set_rcvbuffer(const struct mnl_socket *nl, socklen_t bufsiz)
 	if (nlsndbufsiz >= bufsiz)
 		return 0;
 
-	ret = setsockopt(mnl_socket_get_fd(nl), SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUFFORCE,
-			 &bufsiz, sizeof(socklen_t));
-	if (ret < 0) {
-		/* If this doesn't work, try to reach the system wide maximum
-		 * (or whatever the user requested).
+	nlsndbufsiz = bufsiz;
+	ret = setsockopt(mnl_socket_get_fd(nl), SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUF,
+			 &nlsndbufsiz, sizeof(socklen_t));
+	if (ret < 0 || nlsndbufsiz < bufsiz) {
+		/* If this doesn't work, try again with SO_RCVBUFFORCE.  This requires
+		 * CAP_NET_ADMIN.
 		 */
-		ret = setsockopt(mnl_socket_get_fd(nl), SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUF,
-				 &bufsiz, sizeof(socklen_t));
+		nlsndbufsiz = bufsiz;
+		ret = setsockopt(mnl_socket_get_fd(nl), SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUFFORCE,
+				 &nlsndbufsiz, sizeof(socklen_t));
 	}
 
 	return ret;