diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-internal.h b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-internal.h
index 625b73263a..479bb07ffb 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-internal.h
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-internal.h
@@ -135,7 +135,10 @@ int message_new_full(
 int message_new(sd_netlink *nl, sd_netlink_message **ret, uint16_t type, uint16_t flags);
 int message_new_synthetic_error(sd_netlink *nl, int error, uint32_t serial, sd_netlink_message **ret);
 
-uint32_t message_get_serial(sd_netlink_message *m);
+static inline uint32_t message_get_serial(sd_netlink_message *m) {
+        assert(m);
+        return ASSERT_PTR(m->hdr)->nlmsg_seq;
+}
 
 void message_seal(sd_netlink_message *m);
 
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message.c
index e55b0f0da5..89d045fae9 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-message.c
@@ -111,11 +111,6 @@ int message_new_synthetic_error(sd_netlink *nl, int error, uint32_t serial, sd_n
         return 0;
 }
 
-uint32_t message_get_serial(sd_netlink_message *m) {
-        assert(m);
-        return ASSERT_PTR(m->hdr)->nlmsg_seq;
-}
-
 int sd_netlink_message_set_request_dump(sd_netlink_message *m, int dump) {
         assert_return(m, -EINVAL);
         assert_return(m->hdr, -EINVAL);