diff --git a/drivers/net/usb/cdc_ether.c b/drivers/net/usb/cdc_ether.c
index f3ae88fdf332e890ac8273e3df1ca7dd53092c07..8ab281b478f23bd98d71b896a0c00c4fdba7dacc 100644
--- a/drivers/net/usb/cdc_ether.c
+++ b/drivers/net/usb/cdc_ether.c
@@ -310,6 +310,26 @@ int usbnet_generic_cdc_bind(struct usbnet *dev, struct usb_interface *intf)
 		return -ENODEV;
 	}
 
+	return 0;
+
+bad_desc:
+	dev_info(&dev->udev->dev, "bad CDC descriptors\n");
+	return -ENODEV;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(usbnet_generic_cdc_bind);
+
+
+/* like usbnet_generic_cdc_bind() but handles filter initialization
+ * correctly
+ */
+int usbnet_ether_cdc_bind(struct usbnet *dev, struct usb_interface *intf)
+{
+	int rv;
+
+	rv = usbnet_generic_cdc_bind(dev, intf);
+	if (rv < 0)
+		goto bail_out;
+
 	/* Some devices don't initialise properly. In particular
 	 * the packet filter is not reset. There are devices that
 	 * don't do reset all the way. So the packet filter should
@@ -317,13 +337,10 @@ int usbnet_generic_cdc_bind(struct usbnet *dev, struct usb_interface *intf)
 	 */
 	usbnet_cdc_update_filter(dev);
 
-	return 0;
-
-bad_desc:
-	dev_info(&dev->udev->dev, "bad CDC descriptors\n");
-	return -ENODEV;
+bail_out:
+	return rv;
 }
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(usbnet_generic_cdc_bind);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(usbnet_ether_cdc_bind);
 
 void usbnet_cdc_unbind(struct usbnet *dev, struct usb_interface *intf)
 {
@@ -417,7 +434,7 @@ int usbnet_cdc_bind(struct usbnet *dev, struct usb_interface *intf)
 	BUILD_BUG_ON((sizeof(((struct usbnet *)0)->data)
 			< sizeof(struct cdc_state)));
 
-	status = usbnet_generic_cdc_bind(dev, intf);
+	status = usbnet_ether_cdc_bind(dev, intf);
 	if (status < 0)
 		return status;
 
diff --git a/include/linux/usb/usbnet.h b/include/linux/usb/usbnet.h
index 7dffa5624ea62bee992e547c44ed4a86a577b0a7..97116379db5ff6a850e078c35047fe995f45b265 100644
--- a/include/linux/usb/usbnet.h
+++ b/include/linux/usb/usbnet.h
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ struct cdc_state {
 };
 
 extern int usbnet_generic_cdc_bind(struct usbnet *, struct usb_interface *);
+extern int usbnet_ether_cdc_bind(struct usbnet *dev, struct usb_interface *intf);
 extern int usbnet_cdc_bind(struct usbnet *, struct usb_interface *);
 extern void usbnet_cdc_unbind(struct usbnet *, struct usb_interface *);
 extern void usbnet_cdc_status(struct usbnet *, struct urb *);