diff --git a/drivers/net/bonding/bond_sysfs.c b/drivers/net/bonding/bond_sysfs.c
index 1c9e09fbdff8346e99413e0313d03ed401f463e2..db103e03ba05b4b32b2efbb168a820fe5f71f999 100644
--- a/drivers/net/bonding/bond_sysfs.c
+++ b/drivers/net/bonding/bond_sysfs.c
@@ -183,6 +183,11 @@ int bond_create_slave_symlinks(struct net_device *master,
 	sprintf(linkname, "slave_%s", slave->name);
 	ret = sysfs_create_link(&(master->dev.kobj), &(slave->dev.kobj),
 				linkname);
+
+	/* free the master link created earlier in case of error */
+	if (ret)
+		sysfs_remove_link(&(slave->dev.kobj), "master");
+
 	return ret;
 
 }