diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/main.c b/drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/main.c
index 85cd1a3593d610132ded3796b5b90384bdb0342c..bb3f16273938c1d61b0038998d8fe026c1211983 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/main.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/main.c
@@ -1252,6 +1252,7 @@ static int bnxt_re_ib_reg(struct bnxt_re_dev *rdev)
 	/* Registered a new RoCE device instance to netdev */
 	rc = bnxt_re_register_netdev(rdev);
 	if (rc) {
+		rtnl_unlock();
 		pr_err("Failed to register with netedev: %#x\n", rc);
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}