diff --git a/net/core/rtnetlink.c b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
index 31459ef13ca2bdb7350b51fa6be371b6c89d1b50..2d65c6bb24c10e8734d7e0ee93644c2cd3298b45 100644
--- a/net/core/rtnetlink.c
+++ b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
@@ -1671,6 +1671,9 @@ static int rtnl_newlink(struct sk_buff *skb, struct nlmsghdr *nlh, void *arg)
 			snprintf(ifname, IFNAMSIZ, "%s%%d", ops->kind);
 
 		dest_net = rtnl_link_get_net(net, tb);
+		if (IS_ERR(dest_net))
+			return PTR_ERR(dest_net);
+
 		dev = rtnl_create_link(net, dest_net, ifname, ops, tb);
 
 		if (IS_ERR(dev))