diff --git a/include/net/netlink.h b/include/net/netlink.h
index 91907852da1c..3698ca8ff92c 100644
--- a/include/net/netlink.h
+++ b/include/net/netlink.h
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ enum {
 	NLA_FLAG,
 	NLA_MSECS,
 	NLA_NESTED,
+	NLA_NESTED_ARRAY,
 	NLA_NUL_STRING,
 	NLA_BINARY,
 	NLA_S8,
@@ -200,7 +201,8 @@ enum {
  *    NLA_NUL_STRING       Maximum length of string (excluding NUL)
  *    NLA_FLAG             Unused
  *    NLA_BINARY           Maximum length of attribute payload
- *    NLA_NESTED           Length verification is done by checking len of
+ *    NLA_NESTED,
+ *    NLA_NESTED_ARRAY     Length verification is done by checking len of
  *                         nested header (or empty); len field is used if
  *                         validation_data is also used, for the max attr
  *                         number in the nested policy.
@@ -230,6 +232,12 @@ enum {
  *                         `len' to the max attribute number.
  *                         Note that nla_parse() will validate, but of course not
  *                         parse, the nested sub-policies.
+ *    NLA_NESTED_ARRAY     Points to a nested policy to validate, must also set
+ *                         `len' to the max attribute number. The difference to
+ *                         NLA_NESTED is the structure - NLA_NESTED has the
+ *                         nested attributes directly inside, while an array has
+ *                         the nested attributes at another level down and the
+ *                         attributes directly in the nesting don't matter.
  *    All other            Unused
  *
  * Example:
@@ -255,6 +263,8 @@ struct nla_policy {
 
 #define NLA_POLICY_NESTED(maxattr, policy) \
 	{ .type = NLA_NESTED, .validation_data = policy, .len = maxattr }
+#define NLA_POLICY_NESTED_ARRAY(maxattr, policy) \
+	{ .type = NLA_NESTED_ARRAY, .validation_data = policy, .len = maxattr }
 
 /**
  * struct nl_info - netlink source information
diff --git a/lib/nlattr.c b/lib/nlattr.c
index 04750f88477c..2f8feff669a7 100644
--- a/lib/nlattr.c
+++ b/lib/nlattr.c
@@ -67,6 +67,34 @@ static int validate_nla_bitfield32(const struct nlattr *nla,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int nla_validate_array(const struct nlattr *head, int len, int maxtype,
+			      const struct nla_policy *policy,
+			      struct netlink_ext_ack *extack)
+{
+	const struct nlattr *entry;
+	int rem;
+
+	nla_for_each_attr(entry, head, len, rem) {
+		int ret;
+
+		if (nla_len(entry) == 0)
+			continue;
+
+		if (nla_len(entry) < NLA_HDRLEN) {
+			NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR(extack, entry,
+					    "Array element too short");
+			return -ERANGE;
+		}
+
+		ret = nla_validate(nla_data(entry), nla_len(entry),
+				   maxtype, policy, extack);
+		if (ret < 0)
+			return ret;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static int validate_nla(const struct nlattr *nla, int maxtype,
 			const struct nla_policy *policy,
 			struct netlink_ext_ack *extack)
@@ -169,6 +197,29 @@ static int validate_nla(const struct nlattr *nla, int maxtype,
 			}
 		}
 		break;
+	case NLA_NESTED_ARRAY:
+		/* a nested array attribute is allowed to be empty; if its not,
+		 * it must have a size of at least NLA_HDRLEN.
+		 */
+		if (attrlen == 0)
+			break;
+		if (attrlen < NLA_HDRLEN)
+			goto out_err;
+		if (pt->validation_data) {
+			int err;
+
+			err = nla_validate_array(nla_data(nla), nla_len(nla),
+						 pt->len, pt->validation_data,
+						 extack);
+			if (err < 0) {
+				/*
+				 * return directly to preserve the inner
+				 * error message/attribute pointer
+				 */
+				return err;
+			}
+		}
+		break;
 	default:
 		if (pt->len)
 			minlen = pt->len;