diff --git a/src/box/lua/net_box.lua b/src/box/lua/net_box.lua
index b4811edfae80714bfe90a1e319deffb722ddb101..3f611c0271f3fb4fe44bc267524f2482e9e0234a 100644
--- a/src/box/lua/net_box.lua
+++ b/src/box/lua/net_box.lua
@@ -1550,7 +1550,13 @@ local function handle_eval_result(status, ...)
         rollback()
         return box.error(E_PROC_LUA, (...))
     end
-    return ...
+    local results = {...}
+    for i = 1, select('#', ...) do
+        if type(results[i]) == 'cdata' then
+            results[i] = msgpack.decode(msgpack.encode(results[i]))
+        end
+    end
+    return unpack(results)
 end
 
 this_module.self = {
diff --git a/test/app-tap/debug.result b/test/app-tap/debug.result
index 72934b076ae25b0dc6422c8c5b7a3ec11d58a757..cdc9903070c843cc896c2f298555db14fc7a4891 100644
--- a/test/app-tap/debug.result
+++ b/test/app-tap/debug.result
@@ -15,15 +15,15 @@ nil
 Exec: tarantool -e "print(debug.__dir__); os.exit(0)"
 .
 Exec: tarantool -e "print(require('net.box').self:call('debug.sourcefile')); os.exit(0)"
-nil
+
 Exec: tarantool -e "print(require('net.box').self:call('debug.sourcedir')); os.exit(0)"
 .
 Exec: tarantool -e "fn = function() return debug.__file__ end; print(require('net.box').self:call('fn')); os.exit(0)"
-nil
+
 Exec: tarantool -e "fn = function() return debug.__dir__ end; print(require('net.box').self:call('fn')); os.exit(0)"
 .
 Exec: tarantool -e "fn = function() local res = debug.sourcefile(); return res end; print(require('net.box').self:call('fn')); os.exit(0)"
-nil
+
 Exec: tarantool -e "fn = function() local res = debug.sourcedir(); return res end; print(require('net.box').self:call('fn')); os.exit(0)"
 .
 Exec: tarantool -e "print(loadstring('return debug.sourcefile()')()); os.exit(0)"
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ debug/test.lua
 Source: print(debug.__dir__)
 debug
 Source: print(require('net.box').self:call('debug.sourcefile'))
-nil
+
 Source: print(require('net.box').self:call('debug.sourcedir'))
 .
 Source: fn = function() return debug.__file__ end; print(require('net.box').self:call('fn'))
diff --git a/test/box/engine.cfg b/test/box/engine.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2d1d450e36e403c5df59203c77b2996df151ddba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/box/engine.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+    "gh-4513-netbox-self-and-connect-interchangeable.test.lua": {
+        "remote": {"remote": "true"},
+        "local": {"remote": "false"}
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/box/gh-4513-netbox-self-and-connect-interchangeable.result b/test/box/gh-4513-netbox-self-and-connect-interchangeable.result
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..67000f9c85c75ac8baf84ef7cde892bf8f6984d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/box/gh-4513-netbox-self-and-connect-interchangeable.result
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+-- test-run result file version 2
+netbox = require('net.box')
+ | ---
+ | ...
+test_run = require('test_run').new()
+ | ---
+ | ...
+remote = test_run:get_cfg('remote') == 'true'
+ | ---
+ | ...
+
+nb = nil
+ | ---
+ | ...
+if remote then \
+    box.schema.user.grant('guest','super') \
+    nb = netbox.connect(box.cfg.listen) \
+else \
+    nb = netbox.self \
+end
+ | ---
+ | ...
+
+--
+-- netbox:self and netbox:connect should work interchangeably
+--
+type(nb:eval('return box.tuple.new{1}')) -- table
+ | ---
+ | - table
+ | ...
+type(nb:eval('return box.error.new(1, "test error")')) -- string
+ | ---
+ | - string
+ | ...
+type(nb:eval('return box.NULL')) -- cdata
+ | ---
+ | - cdata
+ | ...
+
+if remote then \
+    box.schema.user.revoke('guest', 'super') \
+    nb:close() \
+end
+ | ---
+ | ...
diff --git a/test/box/gh-4513-netbox-self-and-connect-interchangeable.test.lua b/test/box/gh-4513-netbox-self-and-connect-interchangeable.test.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..010d6cf34197743ba46a4db72f8857290d1d18f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/box/gh-4513-netbox-self-and-connect-interchangeable.test.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+netbox = require('net.box')
+test_run = require('test_run').new()
+remote = test_run:get_cfg('remote') == 'true'
+
+nb = nil
+if remote then \
+    box.schema.user.grant('guest','super') \
+    nb = netbox.connect(box.cfg.listen) \
+else \
+    nb = netbox.self \
+end
+
+--
+-- netbox:self and netbox:connect should work interchangeably
+--
+type(nb:eval('return box.tuple.new{1}')) -- table
+type(nb:eval('return box.error.new(1, "test error")')) -- string
+type(nb:eval('return box.NULL')) -- cdata
+
+if remote then \
+    box.schema.user.revoke('guest', 'super') \
+    nb:close() \
+end
diff --git a/test/box/suite.ini b/test/box/suite.ini
index 9aa30ede686442aaab602a21779a0e3faa6b86b2..01f07236b02377c5f8cbf5875d3e56f3542dfa36 100644
--- a/test/box/suite.ini
+++ b/test/box/suite.ini
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ core = tarantool
 description = Database tests
 script = box.lua
 disabled = rtree_errinj.test.lua tuple_bench.test.lua
+config = engine.cfg
 release_disabled = errinj.test.lua errinj_index.test.lua rtree_errinj.test.lua upsert_errinj.test.lua iproto_stress.test.lua gh-4648-func-load-unload.test.lua
 lua_libs = lua/fifo.lua lua/utils.lua lua/bitset.lua lua/index_random_test.lua lua/push.lua lua/identifier.lua
 use_unix_sockets = True