diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/drbd/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/drbd/default.nix
index 40821a6e489a..7129b685eb90 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/drbd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/drbd/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, flex, udev }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, flex, udev, perl }:
 
 assert stdenv.isLinux;
 
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "096njwxjpwvnl259gxq6cr6n0r6ba0h5aryvgk05hqi95jx927vg";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ flex ];
+  patches = [ ./pass-force.patch ];
+
+  buildInputs = [ flex perl ];
 
   configureFlags = "--without-distro --without-pacemaker --localstatedir=/var --sysconfdir=/etc";
 
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/drbd/pass-force.patch b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/drbd/pass-force.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8f0201100f72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/drbd/pass-force.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+Propagate the --force flag in the legacy drbdadm to drbdsetup.
+Otherwise "drbdadm primary --force" won't work as expected (the kernel
+will say "State change failed: Need access to UpToDate data").
+
+diff -ru -x '*~' drbd-8.4.0-orig/user/legacy/drbdadm_main.c drbd-8.4.0/user/legacy/drbdadm_main.c
+--- drbd-8.4.0-orig/user/legacy/drbdadm_main.c	2011-07-07 06:55:39.000000000 -0400
++++ drbd-8.4.0/user/legacy/drbdadm_main.c	2011-11-02 14:51:04.000000000 -0400
+@@ -1547,6 +1547,7 @@
+ 	for (i = 0; i < soi; i++) {
+ 		argv[NA(argc)] = setup_opts[i];
+ 	}
++	if (force) argv[NA(argc)] = "--force";
+ 	argv[NA(argc)] = 0;
+ 
+ 	setenv("DRBD_RESOURCE", res->name, 1);