diff --git a/net/core/rtnetlink.c b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
index 911752e8a3e6..012143f313a8 100644
--- a/net/core/rtnetlink.c
+++ b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
@@ -3900,7 +3900,7 @@ nla_put_failure:
 static size_t if_nlmsg_stats_size(const struct net_device *dev,
 				  u32 filter_mask)
 {
-	size_t size = 0;
+	size_t size = NLMSG_ALIGN(sizeof(struct if_stats_msg));
 
 	if (stats_attr_valid(filter_mask, IFLA_STATS_LINK_64, 0))
 		size += nla_total_size_64bit(sizeof(struct rtnl_link_stats64));