diff --git a/fsspec/implementations/sftp.py b/fsspec/implementations/sftp.py
index 77f7b370c..c8625072a 100644
--- a/fsspec/implementations/sftp.py
+++ b/fsspec/implementations/sftp.py
@@ -13,6 +13,35 @@
 logger = logging.getLogger("fsspec.sftp")
 
 
+def _patch_SFTPFile(file):
+    """
+    This patcher tries to rectify the file API of paramiko.sftp_file.SFTPFile
+    to be more consistent with io.IOBase.
+    https://github.com/paramiko/paramiko/issues/2452
+    """
+
+    if getattr(file, "_patched_by_fsspec", False):
+        return file
+    file._patched_by_fsspec = True
+
+    self = file
+
+    real_seek = self.seek
+    def seek(offset: int, whence: int = 0) -> int:
+        result = real_seek(offset, whence)
+        return self.tell() if result is None else result
+    self.seek = seek
+
+    real_write = self.write
+    def write(data) -> int:
+        old_offset = self.tell()
+        result = real_write(data)
+        return self.tell() - old_offset if result is None else result
+    self.write = write
+
+    return self
+
+
 class SFTPFileSystem(AbstractFileSystem):
     """Files over SFTP/SSH
 
@@ -141,6 +170,9 @@ def get_file(self, rpath, lpath, **kwargs):
         else:
             self.ftp.get(self._strip_protocol(rpath), lpath)
 
+    def _open_patched(self, path, mode="rb", **kwargs):
+        return _patch_SFTPFile(self.ftp.open(path, mode, **kwargs))
+
     def _open(self, path, mode="rb", block_size=None, **kwargs):
         """
         block_size: int or None
@@ -151,14 +183,14 @@ def _open(self, path, mode="rb", block_size=None, **kwargs):
         if kwargs.get("autocommit", True) is False:
             # writes to temporary file, move on commit
             path2 = "/".join([self.temppath, str(uuid.uuid4())])
-            f = self.ftp.open(path2, mode, bufsize=block_size if block_size else -1)
+            f = self._open_patched(path2, mode, bufsize=block_size if block_size else -1)
             f.temppath = path2
             f.targetpath = path
             f.fs = self
             f.commit = types.MethodType(commit_a_file, f)
             f.discard = types.MethodType(discard_a_file, f)
         else:
-            f = self.ftp.open(path, mode, bufsize=block_size if block_size else -1)
+            f = self._open_patched(path, mode, bufsize=block_size if block_size else -1)
         return f
 
     def _rm(self, path):