diff --git a/src/cw/capwap.h b/src/cw/capwap.h
index dbebcb0b..3c17fefb 100644
--- a/src/cw/capwap.h
+++ b/src/cw/capwap.h
@@ -575,10 +575,10 @@ extern int cw_readelem_vendor_specific_payload(void *data, int msgtype, int elem
 #define CW_RESULT_MSG_UNRECOGNIZED				19
 #define CW_RESULT_MISSING_MAND_ELEM				20
 
-/*
-      21 Failure - Unrecognized Message Element
 
-      22 Data Transfer Error (No Information to Transfer)
+#define CW_RESULT_UNRECOGNIZED_MESSAGE_ELEMENT			21
+
+/*      22 Data Transfer Error (No Information to Transfer)
 
 */
 
diff --git a/src/cw/capwap_strings_result.c b/src/cw/capwap_strings_result.c
index f747c756..fe143e19 100644
--- a/src/cw/capwap_strings_result.c
+++ b/src/cw/capwap_strings_result.c
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ struct cw_strlist_elem capwap_strings_result[] = {
 	{CW_RESULT_IMAGE_DATA_ERROR,"Image Data Error (Unspecified)"},					/* 16 */
 	{CW_RESULT_MSG_INVALID_IN_CURRENT_STATE,"Message unexpected (Invalid in current state)"},	/* 18 */
 	{CW_RESULT_MISSING_MAND_ELEM,"Missing Mandatory Message Element"},		/* 20 */
-
+	{CW_RESULT_UNRECOGNIZED_MESSAGE_ELEMENT,"Unrecognized Message Element"},	/* 21 */
 	{CW_STR_STOP,"Unknown Result Code"}
 
 };
diff --git a/src/cw/conn_process_packet.c b/src/cw/conn_process_packet.c
index cbf85795..69b374d3 100644
--- a/src/cw/conn_process_packet.c
+++ b/src/cw/conn_process_packet.c
@@ -261,6 +261,8 @@ static int process_elements(struct conn *conn, uint8_t * rawmsg, int len,
 	/* Create an avltree to catch the found mandatory elements */
 	conn->mand = stravltree_create();
 
+	int unrecognized=0;
+
 	/* iterate through message elements */
 	cw_foreach_elem(elem, elems_ptr, elems_len) {
 
@@ -274,6 +276,7 @@ static int process_elements(struct conn *conn, uint8_t * rawmsg, int len,
 		af = cw_actionlist_in_get(conn->actions->in, &as);
 
 		if (!af) {
+			unrecognized++;
 			cw_dbg(DBG_ELEM_ERR,
 			       "Element %d (%s) not allowed in msg of type %d (%s), ignoring.",
 			       as.elem_id, cw_strelemp(conn->actions, as.elem_id),
@@ -304,6 +307,14 @@ static int process_elements(struct conn *conn, uint8_t * rawmsg, int len,
 		result_code = afm->end(conn, afm, rawmsg, len, from);
 	}
 
+	if (unrecognized){
+		cw_dbg(DBG_RFC,"Message has %d unrecognized message elements.",unrecognized);
+		if (!result_code) {
+			result_code = CW_RESULT_UNRECOGNIZED_MESSAGE_ELEMENT;
+		}
+
+	}
+
 	/* if we've got a request message, we always have to send a response message */
 	if (as.msg_id & 1) {
 		if (result_code > 0) {