diff --git a/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c b/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c
index e29cd48674d7ebbf03f0a4b74c0a8a8adcd181f6..0ce9b91ff55c064e9f5a3071b0d6c87068adbf47 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/ip_gre.c
@@ -1087,7 +1087,8 @@ static int erspan_validate(struct nlattr *tb[], struct nlattr *data[],
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
-	if (nla_get_u8(data[IFLA_GRE_ERSPAN_VER]) == 0)
+	if (data[IFLA_GRE_ERSPAN_VER] &&
+	    nla_get_u8(data[IFLA_GRE_ERSPAN_VER]) == 0)
 		return 0;
 
 	/* ERSPAN type II/III should only have GRE sequence and key flag */