Provided are a method for processing a subnet route and message forwarding equipment. The method includes: it is detected that a next-hop host route to which the subnet route is directed becomes invalid; when the next-hop host route becomes invalid, a deletion instruction for deleting the next-hop host route is generated and issued; the deletion instruction is intercepted, and converted into a first updating instruction for modifying the next-hop host route; and a next-hop egress of the next-hop host route is updated into a Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the message forwarding equipment according to the first updating instruction. According to the disclosure, management over the subnet route can be simplified, and switching efficiency of the subnet route can be improved.