diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 180013b9..278b01f9 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -130,6 +130,10 @@ if cppc.has_header_symbol('netlink/route/link/bonding.h', 'rtnl_link_bond_get_mo
   add_global_arguments('-DHAVE_RTNL_LINK_BOND_GET_MODE',  language: 'cpp')
 endif
 
+if not cppc.has_header_symbol('netlink/errno.h', 'NLE_HOSTUNREACH', dependencies: libnl, required: false)
+  add_global_arguments('-DNLE_HOSTUNREACH=35',  language: 'cpp')
+endif
+
 if cppc.has_header('netlink/route/bridge_vlan.h', dependencies: libnl, required: false)
   add_global_arguments('-DHAVE_NETLINK_ROUTE_BRIDGE_VLAN_H',  language: 'cpp')
 endif
diff --git a/src/netlink/nl_route_query.h b/src/netlink/nl_route_query.h
index 9a793241..5ec7ae0c 100644
--- a/src/netlink/nl_route_query.h
+++ b/src/netlink/nl_route_query.h
@@ -87,9 +87,9 @@ class nl_route_query final {
       /*
        * if there is no default route, and no matching route, the kernel will
        * respond with -ENETUNREACH or -EHOSTUNREACH, which libnl translates to
-       * -NLE_FAILURE.
+       * -NLE_FAILURE resp -NLE_HOSTUNREACH.
        */
-      if (err == -NLE_FAILURE)
+      if (err == -NLE_HOSTUNREACH || err == -NLE_FAILURE)
         return nullptr;
 
       LOG(FATAL) << __FUNCTION__ << ":%s" << nl_geterror(err);