diff --git a/tests/qtest/e1000e-test.c b/tests/qtest/e1000e-test.c
index fc226fdfeb..0273fe4c15 100644
--- a/tests/qtest/e1000e-test.c
+++ b/tests/qtest/e1000e-test.c
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ static void e1000e_send_verify(QE1000E *d, int *test_sockets, QGuestAllocator *a
     /* Check data sent to the backend */
     ret = qemu_recv(test_sockets[0], &recv_len, sizeof(recv_len), 0);
     g_assert_cmpint(ret, == , sizeof(recv_len));
-    qemu_recv(test_sockets[0], buffer, 64, 0);
+    ret = qemu_recv(test_sockets[0], buffer, 64, 0);
+    g_assert_cmpint(ret, >=, 5);
     g_assert_cmpstr(buffer, == , "TEST");
 
     /* Free test data buffer */