diff --git a/include/sdbusplus/exception.hpp b/include/sdbusplus/exception.hpp
index 1a83a09..7099c79 100644
--- a/include/sdbusplus/exception.hpp
+++ b/include/sdbusplus/exception.hpp
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 {
     virtual const char* name() const noexcept = 0;
     virtual const char* description() const noexcept = 0;
+    virtual int get_errno() const noexcept;
 };
 
 /** base exception class for all errors generated by sdbusplus itself. */
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@
     const char* name() const noexcept override;
     const char* description() const noexcept override;
     const char* what() const noexcept override;
-    int get_errno() const noexcept;
+    int get_errno() const noexcept override;
     const sd_bus_error* get_error() const noexcept;
 
   private:
diff --git a/src/exception.cpp b/src/exception.cpp
index b58bd01..641659e 100644
--- a/src/exception.cpp
+++ b/src/exception.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include <sdbusplus/exception.hpp>
 
+#include <cerrno>
 #include <stdexcept>
 #include <utility>
 
@@ -13,6 +14,11 @@
 namespace exception
 {
 
+int exception::get_errno() const noexcept
+{
+    return EIO;
+}
+
 SdBusError::SdBusError(int error, const char* prefix, SdBusInterface* intf) :
     error(SD_BUS_ERROR_NULL), intf(intf)
 {