diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 78d0d5119..0be6b8224 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ release 0.14.7
 	* resume data alerts are always posted, regardless of alert mask
 	* added wait_for_alert to python binding
 	* improved invalid filename character replacement
+	* improved forward compatibility in DHT
 
 release 0.14.6
 
diff --git a/src/kademlia/node.cpp b/src/kademlia/node.cpp
index 56f9278fc..f8f502728 100644
--- a/src/kademlia/node.cpp
+++ b/src/kademlia/node.cpp
@@ -664,7 +664,25 @@ void node_impl::incoming_request(msg const& m, entry& e)
 	}
 	else
 	{
-		incoming_error(e, "unknown message");
+		// if we don't recognize the message but there's a
+		// 'target' or 'info_hash' in the arguments, treat it
+		// as find_node to be future compatible
+		lazy_entry const* target_ent = arg_ent->dict_find_string("target");
+		if (target_ent == 0 || target_ent->string_length() != 20)
+		{
+			target_ent = arg_ent->dict_find_string("info_hash");
+			if (target_ent == 0 || target_ent->string_length() != 20)
+			{
+				incoming_error(e, "unknown message");
+				return;
+			}
+		}
+
+		sha1_hash target(target_ent->string_ptr());
+		nodes_t n;
+		// always return nodes as well as peers
+		m_table.find_node(target, n, 0);
+		write_nodes_entry(reply, n);
 		return;
 	}
 }