diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit.yml b/.github/workflows/unit.yml
index 6acfdc15..1b678555 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,16 @@ jobs:
         env:
           TIMESCALE_FACTOR: 10
         run: go run github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo -r -v -cover -randomize-all -randomize-suites -trace -skip-package integrationtests
+      - name: Run tests as root
+        if: ${{ matrix.os == 'ubuntu' }}
+        env:
+          TIMESCALE_FACTOR: 10
+          FILE: sys_conn_helper_linux_test.go
+        run: |
+          test -f $FILE # make sure the file actually exists
+          go run github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo build -cover -tags root .
+          sudo ./quic-go.test -ginkgo.v -ginkgo.trace -ginkgo.randomize-all -ginkgo.focus-file=$FILE -test.coverprofile coverage-root.txt
+          rm quic-go.test
       - name: Run tests (32 bit)
         if: ${{ matrix.os != 'macos' }} # can't run 32 bit tests on OSX.
         env:
@@ -34,5 +44,5 @@ jobs:
       - name: Upload coverage to Codecov
         uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3
         with:
-          file: coverage.txt
+          files: coverage.txt coverage-root.txt
           env_vars: OS=${{ matrix.os }}, GO=${{ matrix.go }}
diff --git a/sys_conn_helper_linux.go b/sys_conn_helper_linux.go
index 61c3f54b..721b38ea 100644
--- a/sys_conn_helper_linux.go
+++ b/sys_conn_helper_linux.go
@@ -2,7 +2,13 @@
 
 package quic
 
-import "golang.org/x/sys/unix"
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"syscall"
+
+	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
+)
 
 const msgTypeIPTOS = unix.IP_TOS
 
@@ -17,3 +23,23 @@ const (
 )
 
 const batchSize = 8 // needs to smaller than MaxUint8 (otherwise the type of oobConn.readPos has to be changed)
+
+func forceSetReceiveBuffer(c interface{}, bytes int) error {
+	conn, ok := c.(interface {
+		SyscallConn() (syscall.RawConn, error)
+	})
+	if !ok {
+		return errors.New("doesn't have a SyscallConn")
+	}
+	rawConn, err := conn.SyscallConn()
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("couldn't get syscall.RawConn: %w", err)
+	}
+	var serr error
+	if err := rawConn.Control(func(fd uintptr) {
+		serr = unix.SetsockoptInt(int(fd), unix.SOL_SOCKET, unix.SO_RCVBUFFORCE, bytes)
+	}); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return serr
+}
diff --git a/sys_conn_helper_linux_test.go b/sys_conn_helper_linux_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c2e70ef1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys_conn_helper_linux_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+// We need root permissions to use RCVBUFFORCE.
+// This test is therefore only compiled when the root build flag is set.
+// It can only succeed if the tests are then also run with root permissions.
+//go:build linux && root
+
+package quic
+
+import (
+	"net"
+	"os"
+
+	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+)
+
+var _ = Describe("Can change the receive buffer size", func() {
+	It("Force a change (if we have CAP_NET_ADMIN)", func() {
+		if os.Getuid() != 0 {
+			Fail("Must be root to force change the receive buffer size")
+		}
+
+		c, err := net.ListenPacket("udp", "127.0.0.1:0")
+		Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+		forceSetReceiveBuffer(c, 256<<10)
+
+		size, err := inspectReadBuffer(c)
+		Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+		//  The kernel doubles this value (to allow space for bookkeeping overhead)
+		Expect(size).To(Equal(512 << 10))
+
+		forceSetReceiveBuffer(c, 512<<10)
+		size, err = inspectReadBuffer(c)
+		Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+		//  The kernel doubles this value (to allow space for bookkeeping overhead)
+		Expect(size).To(Equal(1024 << 10))
+	})
+})
diff --git a/sys_conn_helper_nonlinux.go b/sys_conn_helper_nonlinux.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..318cbd09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys_conn_helper_nonlinux.go
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !linux
+
+package quic
+
+func forceSetReceiveBuffer(c interface{}, bytes int) error { return nil }
diff --git a/transport.go b/transport.go
index 153675da..d7d37eb4 100644
--- a/transport.go
+++ b/transport.go
@@ -180,10 +180,17 @@ func setReceiveBuffer(c net.PacketConn, logger utils.Logger) error {
 		logger.Debugf("Conn has receive buffer of %d kiB (wanted: at least %d kiB)", size/1024, protocol.DesiredReceiveBufferSize/1024)
 		return nil
 	}
-	if err := conn.SetReadBuffer(protocol.DesiredReceiveBufferSize); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to increase receive buffer size: %w", err)
-	}
+	// Ignore the error. We check if we succeeded by querying the buffer size afterward.
+	_ = conn.SetReadBuffer(protocol.DesiredReceiveBufferSize)
 	newSize, err := inspectReadBuffer(c)
+	if newSize < protocol.DesiredReceiveBufferSize {
+		// Try again with RCVBUFFORCE on Linux
+		_ = forceSetReceiveBuffer(c, protocol.DesiredReceiveBufferSize)
+		newSize, err = inspectReadBuffer(c)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to determine receive buffer size: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to determine receive buffer size: %w", err)
 	}