diff --git a/testsuite/src/test/java/io/netty/testsuite/transport/socket/AbstractDatagramMulticastTest.java b/testsuite/src/test/java/io/netty/testsuite/transport/socket/AbstractDatagramMulticastTest.java
index 607f65bdb5..725c5d25c4 100644
--- a/testsuite/src/test/java/io/netty/testsuite/transport/socket/AbstractDatagramMulticastTest.java
+++ b/testsuite/src/test/java/io/netty/testsuite/transport/socket/AbstractDatagramMulticastTest.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import io.netty.channel.socket.DatagramChannelFactory;
 import io.netty.testsuite.util.TestUtils;
 import io.netty.util.internal.ExecutorUtil;
 
+import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.net.NetworkInterface;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
@@ -72,7 +73,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractDatagramMulticastTest {
 
         int port = TestUtils.getFreePort();
         
-        NetworkInterface iface = NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces().nextElement();
+        NetworkInterface iface = NetworkInterface.getByInetAddress(InetAddress.getLocalHost());
+        
+        // check if the NetworkInterface is null, this is the case on my ubuntu dev machine but not on osx and windows.
+        // if so fail back the the first interface
+        if (iface == null) {
+            // use nextElement() as NetWorkInterface.getByIndex(0) returns null
+            iface = NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces().nextElement();
+        }
         sb.setOption("networkInterface", iface);
         sb.setOption("reuseAddress", true);