diff --git a/src/decode.c b/src/decode.c
index 2507dec1b8..b23edb1ff5 100644
--- a/src/decode.c
+++ b/src/decode.c
@@ -46,16 +46,16 @@ void DecodeTunnel(ThreadVars *tv, DecodeThreadVars *dtv, Packet *p, uint8_t *pkt
 }
 
 /**
- *  \brief Get a pseudo packet for tunnels and defrag reassembly. We try to
- *         get a packet from the packet_q first, but if that is empty we alloc
- *         a packet that is free'd again after processing.
+ *  \brief Get a packet. We try to get a packet from the packet_q first, but
+ *         if that is empty we alloc a packet that is free'd again after
+ *         processing.
  *
  *  \retval p packet, NULL on error
  */
-static Packet *PacketGetPseudoPkt (void)
-{
+Packet *PacketGetFromQueueOrAlloc(void) {
     Packet *p = NULL;
 
+    /* try the queue first */
     SCMutexLock(&packet_q.mutex_q);
     p = PacketDequeue(&packet_q);
     SCMutexUnlock(&packet_q.mutex_q);
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ static Packet *PacketGetPseudoPkt (void)
 Packet *PacketPseudoPktSetup(Packet *parent, uint8_t *pkt, uint16_t len, uint8_t proto)
 {
     /* get us a packet */
-    Packet *p = PacketGetPseudoPkt();
+    Packet *p = PacketGetFromQueueOrAlloc();
     if (p == NULL) {
         return NULL;
     }
diff --git a/src/decode.h b/src/decode.h
index 16d2d4152b..7f81408e5d 100644
--- a/src/decode.h
+++ b/src/decode.h
@@ -488,6 +488,7 @@ typedef struct DecodeThreadVars_
 
 void DecodeRegisterPerfCounters(DecodeThreadVars *, ThreadVars *);
 Packet *PacketPseudoPktSetup(Packet *parent, uint8_t *pkt, uint16_t len, uint8_t proto);
+Packet *PacketGetFromQueueOrAlloc(void);
 
 /* decoder functions */
 void DecodeEthernet(ThreadVars *, DecodeThreadVars *, Packet *, uint8_t *, uint16_t, PacketQueue *);
diff --git a/src/source-nfq.c b/src/source-nfq.c
index 33acdbd6bb..4398aa4642 100644
--- a/src/source-nfq.c
+++ b/src/source-nfq.c
@@ -204,7 +204,11 @@ static int NFQCallBack(struct nfq_q_handle *qh, struct nfgenmsg *nfmsg,
     ThreadVars *tv = ntv->tv;
 
     /* grab a packet */
-    Packet *p = tv->tmqh_in(tv);
+    Packet *p = PacketGetFromQueueOrAlloc();
+    if (p == NULL) {
+        return -1;
+    }
+
     NFQSetupPkt(p, (void *)nfa);
 
 #ifdef COUNTERS
@@ -399,8 +403,7 @@ void NFQRecvPkt(NFQThreadVars *t) {
     rv = recv(t->fd, buf, sizeof(buf), 0);
 
     if (rv < 0) {
-        if (errno == EINTR || errno == EWOULDBLOCK
-           ) {
+        if (errno == EINTR || errno == EWOULDBLOCK) {
             /* no error on timeout */
         } else {
 #ifdef COUNTERS
@@ -497,6 +500,15 @@ process_rv:
 TmEcode ReceiveNFQ(ThreadVars *tv, Packet *p, void *data, PacketQueue *pq) {
     NFQThreadVars *ntv = (NFQThreadVars *)data;
 
+    /* make sure we have at least one packet in the packet pool, to prevent
+     * us from 1) alloc'ing packets at line rate, 2) have a race condition
+     * for the nfq mutex lock with the verdict thread. */
+    SCMutexLock(&packet_q.mutex_q);
+    if (packet_q.len == 0) {
+        SCondWait(&packet_q.cond_q, &packet_q.mutex_q);
+    }
+    SCMutexUnlock(&packet_q.mutex_q);
+
     /* do our nfq magic */
     NFQRecvPkt(ntv);