diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message.c
index 0d8e37b856..cf693de5fb 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message.c
@@ -149,6 +149,15 @@ int sd_netlink_message_get_type(sd_netlink_message *m, uint16_t *type) {
         return 0;
 }
 
+int sd_netlink_message_set_flags(sd_netlink_message *m, uint16_t flags) {
+        assert_return(m, -EINVAL);
+        assert_return(flags, -EINVAL);
+
+        m->hdr->nlmsg_flags = flags;
+
+        return 0;
+}
+
 int sd_netlink_message_is_broadcast(sd_netlink_message *m) {
         assert_return(m, -EINVAL);
 
diff --git a/src/systemd/sd-netlink.h b/src/systemd/sd-netlink.h
index cb462bf48f..e09b8c8e2d 100644
--- a/src/systemd/sd-netlink.h
+++ b/src/systemd/sd-netlink.h
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ int sd_netlink_message_request_dump(sd_netlink_message *m, int dump);
 int sd_netlink_message_is_error(sd_netlink_message *m);
 int sd_netlink_message_get_errno(sd_netlink_message *m);
 int sd_netlink_message_get_type(sd_netlink_message *m, uint16_t *type);
+int sd_netlink_message_set_flags(sd_netlink_message *m, uint16_t flags);
 int sd_netlink_message_is_broadcast(sd_netlink_message *m);
 
 /* rtnl */