diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message-rtnl.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message-rtnl.c
index 008e8022b1..09116b1438 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message-rtnl.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message-rtnl.c
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ int sd_rtnl_message_new_nexthop(sd_netlink *rtnl, sd_netlink_message **ret,
                 return r;
 
         if (nlmsg_type == RTM_NEWNEXTHOP)
-                (*ret)->hdr->nlmsg_flags |= NLM_F_CREATE | NLM_F_APPEND;
+                (*ret)->hdr->nlmsg_flags |= NLM_F_CREATE | NLM_F_REPLACE;
 
         nhm = NLMSG_DATA((*ret)->hdr);