The embodiment of the invention discloses an RPF checking method, and the method comprises the steps: enabling a tail node to obtain a multicast source address, a multicast group address and packaginginformation carried in a multicast data message after the tail node receives the multicast data message from a head node; and then, according to the multicast source address, the multicast group address and the first corresponding relationship, a first identifier is acquired for identifying an upstream multicast next-hop UMH node corresponding to the multicast data message. In addition, a tail node can also obtain a second identifier for identifying the head node corresponding to the multicast data message according to the encapsulation information of the multicast data message and the secondcorresponding relationship. After the first identifier and the second identifier are obtained, the tail node can perform RPF check according to the first identifier and the second identifier. In theembodiment of the invention, the data length of the first identifier and the data length of the second identifier are both smaller than 128 bits, so that in the embodiment of the invention, two piecesof data smaller than 128 bits can be compared, and RPF check is simplified.