diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_ctrlr.c b/lib/nvme/nvme_ctrlr.c
index 38a1de0249..04958338bb 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_ctrlr.c
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_ctrlr.c
@@ -1986,16 +1986,8 @@ nvme_ctrlr_identify_done(void *arg, const struct spdk_nvme_cpl *cpl)
 		if (ctrlr->cdata.sgls.supported == 0x2) {
 			ctrlr->flags |= SPDK_NVME_CTRLR_SGL_REQUIRES_DWORD_ALIGNMENT;
 		}
-		/*
-		 * Use MSDBD to ensure our max_sges doesn't exceed what the
-		 *  controller supports.
-		 */
+
 		ctrlr->max_sges = nvme_transport_ctrlr_get_max_sges(ctrlr);
-		if (ctrlr->cdata.nvmf_specific.msdbd != 0) {
-			ctrlr->max_sges = spdk_min(ctrlr->cdata.nvmf_specific.msdbd, ctrlr->max_sges);
-		} else {
-			/* A value 0 indicates no limit. */
-		}
 		NVME_CTRLR_DEBUGLOG(ctrlr, "transport max_sges %u\n", ctrlr->max_sges);
 	}
 
diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_rdma.c b/lib/nvme/nvme_rdma.c
index 5e7f468bd6..6fcea32c06 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_rdma.c
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_rdma.c
@@ -2434,8 +2434,21 @@ static uint16_t
 nvme_rdma_ctrlr_get_max_sges(struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr)
 {
 	struct nvme_rdma_ctrlr *rctrlr = nvme_rdma_ctrlr(ctrlr);
+	uint32_t max_sge = rctrlr->max_sge;
+	uint32_t max_in_capsule_sge = (ctrlr->cdata.nvmf_specific.ioccsz * 16 -
+				       sizeof(struct spdk_nvme_cmd)) /
+				      sizeof(struct spdk_nvme_sgl_descriptor);
 
-	return rctrlr->max_sge;
+	/* Max SGE is limited by capsule size */
+	max_sge = spdk_min(max_sge, max_in_capsule_sge);
+	/* Max SGE may be limited by MSDBD */
+	if (ctrlr->cdata.nvmf_specific.msdbd != 0) {
+		max_sge = spdk_min(max_sge, ctrlr->cdata.nvmf_specific.msdbd);
+	}
+
+	/* Max SGE can't be less than 1 */
+	max_sge = spdk_max(1, max_sge);
+	return max_sge;
 }
 
 static int
diff --git a/test/unit/lib/nvme/nvme_rdma.c/nvme_rdma_ut.c b/test/unit/lib/nvme/nvme_rdma.c/nvme_rdma_ut.c
index e5179ae1be..25c671c8a1 100644
--- a/test/unit/lib/nvme/nvme_rdma.c/nvme_rdma_ut.c
+++ b/test/unit/lib/nvme/nvme_rdma.c/nvme_rdma_ut.c
@@ -1370,6 +1370,34 @@ test_nvme_rdma_poll_group_get_qpair_by_id(void)
 	STAILQ_REMOVE_HEAD(&group.destroyed_qpairs, link);
 }
 
+static void
+test_nvme_rdma_ctrlr_get_max_sges(void)
+{
+	struct nvme_rdma_ctrlr	rctrlr = {};
+
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.trid.trtype = SPDK_NVME_TRANSPORT_RDMA;
+	rctrlr.max_sge = NVME_RDMA_MAX_SGL_DESCRIPTORS;
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.msdbd = 16;
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.ioccsz = 4096;
+	CU_ASSERT(nvme_rdma_ctrlr_get_max_sges(&rctrlr.ctrlr) == 16);
+
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.msdbd = 32;
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.ioccsz = 4096;
+	CU_ASSERT(nvme_rdma_ctrlr_get_max_sges(&rctrlr.ctrlr) == 16);
+
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.msdbd = 8;
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.ioccsz = 4096;
+	CU_ASSERT(nvme_rdma_ctrlr_get_max_sges(&rctrlr.ctrlr) == 8);
+
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.msdbd = 16;
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.ioccsz = 4;
+	CU_ASSERT(nvme_rdma_ctrlr_get_max_sges(&rctrlr.ctrlr) == 1);
+
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.msdbd = 16;
+	rctrlr.ctrlr.cdata.nvmf_specific.ioccsz = 6;
+	CU_ASSERT(nvme_rdma_ctrlr_get_max_sges(&rctrlr.ctrlr) == 2);
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	CU_pSuite	suite = NULL;
@@ -1402,6 +1430,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	CU_ADD_TEST(suite, test_rdma_ctrlr_get_memory_domains);
 	CU_ADD_TEST(suite, test_rdma_get_memory_translation);
 	CU_ADD_TEST(suite, test_nvme_rdma_poll_group_get_qpair_by_id);
+	CU_ADD_TEST(suite, test_nvme_rdma_ctrlr_get_max_sges);
 
 	CU_basic_set_mode(CU_BRM_VERBOSE);
 	CU_basic_run_tests();