diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_devlink.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_devlink.c
index 5c464ea73576f40bb0e8d418aa6e4a3be6140416..a0a9af4026422cd5fa06c4f0fd0dc51b0f943b78 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_devlink.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt_devlink.c
@@ -441,12 +441,13 @@ static int bnxt_dl_reload_down(struct devlink *dl, bool netns_change,
 
 	switch (action) {
 	case DEVLINK_RELOAD_ACTION_DRIVER_REINIT: {
-		if (BNXT_PF(bp) && bp->pf.active_vfs) {
+		rtnl_lock();
+		if (BNXT_PF(bp) && (bp->pf.active_vfs || bp->sriov_cfg)) {
 			NL_SET_ERR_MSG_MOD(extack,
-					   "reload is unsupported when VFs are allocated");
+					   "reload is unsupported while VFs are allocated or being configured");
+			rtnl_unlock();
 			return -EOPNOTSUPP;
 		}
-		rtnl_lock();
 		if (bp->dev->reg_state == NETREG_UNREGISTERED) {
 			rtnl_unlock();
 			return -ENODEV;