diff --git a/doc/bird.sgml b/doc/bird.sgml
index d2d03314..e2e8964a 100644
--- a/doc/bird.sgml
+++ b/doc/bird.sgml
@@ -2698,7 +2698,7 @@ limitations can be overcome using another routing table and the pipe protocol.
 	routes from other sources (e.g. kernel device routes). Metric 0 has a
 	special meaning of undefined metric, in which either OS default is used,
 	or per-route metric can be set using <cf/krt_metric/ attribute. Default:
-	0 (undefined).
+	32.
 
 	<tag><label id="krt-graceful-restart">graceful restart <m/switch/</tag>
 	Participate in graceful restart recovery. If this option is enabled and
diff --git a/sysdep/linux/netlink.c b/sysdep/linux/netlink.c
index 654dc4d1..e20512f5 100644
--- a/sysdep/linux/netlink.c
+++ b/sysdep/linux/netlink.c
@@ -1935,7 +1935,7 @@ void
 krt_sys_init_config(struct krt_config *cf)
 {
   cf->sys.table_id = RT_TABLE_MAIN;
-  cf->sys.metric = 0;
+  cf->sys.metric = 32;
 }
 
 void