diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp.c b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
index 65eb0a523e3f..e8aca226c4ae 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
@@ -956,7 +956,7 @@ 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 && TCP_SKB_CB(skb)->seq == TCP_SKB_CB(skb)->end_seq) {
 		tcp_unlink_write_queue(skb, sk);
 		if (tcp_write_queue_empty(sk))
 			tcp_chrono_stop(sk, TCP_CHRONO_BUSY);