diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp.c b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
index efe767e20d01..c1f59a53f68f 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
@@ -922,7 +922,8 @@ static int tcp_send_mss(struct sock *sk, int *size_goal, int flags)
  */
 static void tcp_remove_empty_skb(struct sock *sk, struct sk_buff *skb)
 {
-	if (skb && !skb->len) {
+	if (skb && !skb->len &&
+	    TCP_SKB_CB(skb)->end_seq == TCP_SKB_CB(skb)->seq) {
 		tcp_unlink_write_queue(skb, sk);
 		tcp_check_send_head(sk, skb);
 		sk_wmem_free_skb(sk, skb);