diff --git a/drivers/net/tun.c b/drivers/net/tun.c
index 11a0ba47b67782d920f3bf5cb36d3e24d4874b63..b393536012fb3c90282c492f4f50f346cbbbc1e6 100644
--- a/drivers/net/tun.c
+++ b/drivers/net/tun.c
@@ -1324,20 +1324,22 @@ static int tun_chr_close(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 	struct tun_file *tfile = file->private_data;
 	struct tun_struct *tun;
 
-
-	rtnl_lock();
 	tun = __tun_get(tfile);
 	if (tun) {
-		DBG(KERN_INFO "%s: tun_chr_close\n", tun->dev->name);
+		struct net_device *dev = tun->dev;
+
+		DBG(KERN_INFO "%s: tun_chr_close\n", dev->name);
 
 		__tun_detach(tun);
 
 		/* If desireable, unregister the netdevice. */
-		if (!(tun->flags & TUN_PERSIST))
-			unregister_netdevice(tun->dev);
-
+		if (!(tun->flags & TUN_PERSIST)) {
+			rtnl_lock();
+			if (dev->reg_state == NETREG_REGISTERED)
+				unregister_netdevice(dev);
+			rtnl_unlock();
+		}
 	}
-	rtnl_unlock();
 
 	tun = tfile->tun;
 	if (tun)