diff --git a/src/openvpn/networking_sitnl.c b/src/openvpn/networking_sitnl.c
index a5b2905..ad7edef 100644
--- a/src/openvpn/networking_sitnl.c
+++ b/src/openvpn/networking_sitnl.c
@@ -1337,7 +1337,15 @@
     {
         dco_context_t *dco = arg;
         struct rtattr *data = SITNL_NEST(&req.n, sizeof(req), IFLA_INFO_DATA);
-        SITNL_ADDATTR(&req.n, sizeof(req), IFLA_OVPN_MODE, &dco->ifmode, sizeof(uint8_t));
+
+        /* the netlink format is uint8_t for this and using something
+         * other than uint8_t here (enum underlying type is undefined but
+         * commonly int) causes the values to be 0 when passed
+         * on big endian arch as we only take the (biggest endian) byte
+         * directly at the address
+         */
+        uint8_t ifmode = (uint8_t)dco->ifmode;
+        SITNL_ADDATTR(&req.n, sizeof(req), IFLA_OVPN_MODE, &ifmode, sizeof(uint8_t));
         SITNL_NEST_END(&req.n, data);
     }
 #endif