diff --git a/net/core/rtnetlink.c b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
index c38917371b84e21d7db49209b8a2e89aa22014d0..a0017737442f7f5a5f62ef27c717b123aeded0bb 100644
--- a/net/core/rtnetlink.c
+++ b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
@@ -3080,12 +3080,10 @@ static int __rtnl_newlink(struct sk_buff *skb, struct nlmsghdr *nlh,
 	ifm = nlmsg_data(nlh);
 	if (ifm->ifi_index > 0)
 		dev = __dev_get_by_index(net, ifm->ifi_index);
-	else {
-		if (ifname[0])
-			dev = __dev_get_by_name(net, ifname);
-		else
-			dev = NULL;
-	}
+	else if (tb[IFLA_IFNAME])
+		dev = __dev_get_by_name(net, ifname);
+	else
+		dev = NULL;
 
 	if (dev) {
 		master_dev = netdev_master_upper_dev_get(dev);