diff --git a/drivers/net/tun.c b/drivers/net/tun.c
index 50e9cc19023a701bad861ac117665a024ba776b1..c52207beef881c77b8f5194ea3233d95db928622 100644
--- a/drivers/net/tun.c
+++ b/drivers/net/tun.c
@@ -2264,6 +2264,8 @@ static void tun_setup(struct net_device *dev)
 static int tun_validate(struct nlattr *tb[], struct nlattr *data[],
 			struct netlink_ext_ack *extack)
 {
+	if (!data)
+		return 0;
 	return -EINVAL;
 }