diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/71528-systemd-capbpf-workaround.yml b/changelogs/fragments/71528-systemd-capbpf-workaround.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bf7cff1aa3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/71528-systemd-capbpf-workaround.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - >
+    systemd - work around bug with ``systemd`` 245 and 5.8 kernel that does not correctly
+    report service state (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/71528)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/systemd.py b/lib/ansible/modules/systemd.py
index 921b64477d1..8b95750f4b9 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/systemd.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/systemd.py
@@ -400,6 +400,17 @@ def main():
                 # Check for loading error
                 if is_systemd and not is_masked and 'LoadError' in result['status']:
                     module.fail_json(msg="Error loading unit file '%s': %s" % (unit, result['status']['LoadError']))
+
+        # Workaround for https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/71528
+        elif err and rc == 1 and 'Failed to parse bus message' in err:
+            result['status'] = parse_systemctl_show(to_native(out).split('\n'))
+
+            (rc, out, err) = module.run_command("{systemctl} list-units '{unit}*'".format(systemctl=systemctl, unit=unit))
+            is_systemd = unit in out
+
+            (rc, out, err) = module.run_command("{systemctl} is-active '{unit}'".format(systemctl=systemctl, unit=unit))
+            result['status']['ActiveState'] = out.rstrip('\n')
+
         else:
             # list taken from man systemctl(1) for systemd 244
             valid_enabled_states = [