diff -Nur a/system-linux.c netifd-2015-12-16/system-linux.c
--- a/system-linux.c	2018-11-08 15:30:16.422606326 -0800
+++ netifd-2015-12-16/system-linux.c	2018-11-08 15:30:24.522606530 -0800
@@ -593,6 +593,33 @@
 	return path + 1;
 }
 
+static int system_get_ifindex(const char *name)
+{
+	char path[64], buf[24];
+	int len;
+	FILE *f;
+	struct stat st;
+
+	snprintf(path, sizeof(path), "/sys/class/net/%s/ifindex", name);
+
+	if (stat(path, &st) < 0)
+		return 0;
+
+	f = fopen(path, "r");
+	if (!f) {
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	len = fread(buf, 1, 23, f);
+	fclose(f);
+
+	if (len <= 0)
+		return 0;
+
+	buf[len] = 0;
+	return strtoul(buf, NULL, 0);
+}
+
 static struct device *system_get_bonding(const char *name, char *buf, int buflen)
 {
 	char path[64], *devname;
@@ -706,7 +733,7 @@
 	if (!ioctl(sock_ioctl, SIOCGIFINDEX, &ifr))
 		return ifr.ifr_ifindex;
 	else
-		return 0;
+		return system_get_ifindex(dev->ifname);
 }
 
 static int system_if_flags(const char *ifname, unsigned add, unsigned rem)