diff --git a/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/racket/udp.rktl b/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/racket/udp.rktl
index c545b83a5e..c4061d2540 100644
--- a/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/racket/udp.rktl
+++ b/pkgs/racket-pkgs/racket-test/tests/racket/udp.rktl
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@
       (sync (udp-receive!-evt udp2 us1)))
 (test #f sync/timeout 0.05 udp2-r)
 (test #f sync/timeout 0.05 (udp-receive!-evt udp2 us1))
+(test #f sync/timeout 0.05 (udp-receive!-evt udp2 (make-bytes 0)))
 
 ;; break behavior
 (let ([t (parameterize-break #f
diff --git a/racket/src/racket/src/network.c b/racket/src/racket/src/network.c
index 42116e02cf..0a043a291c 100644
--- a/racket/src/racket/src/network.c
+++ b/racket/src/racket/src/network.c
@@ -3682,8 +3682,18 @@ static int do_udp_recv(const char *name, Scheme_UDP *udp, char *bstr, intptr_t s
     }
 
     {
-      x = recvfrom(udp->s, bstr XFORM_OK_PLUS start, end - start, 0,
-		   (struct sockaddr *)src_addr, &asize);
+      if (end == start) {
+        /* recvfrom() doesn't necessarily wait if you pass a buffer size of 0;
+           to be consistent with accepting a message but discarding bytes that
+           don't fit, accept at least one byte and turn a `1` result into `0` */
+        char buf[1];
+        x = recvfrom(udp->s, buf, 1, 0, (struct sockaddr *)src_addr, &asize);
+        if (x == 1)
+          x = 0;
+      } else {
+        x = recvfrom(udp->s, bstr XFORM_OK_PLUS start, end - start, 0,
+                     (struct sockaddr *)src_addr, &asize);
+      }
     }
 
     if (x == -1) {