diff --git a/kernel/audit.c b/kernel/audit.c
index d272cc11dff4488e72f4660859696857d8eed2c5..33531d72e4a21014a68a98821bbef232edb9a2fb 100644
--- a/kernel/audit.c
+++ b/kernel/audit.c
@@ -435,6 +435,9 @@ static void kauditd_send_multicast_skb(struct sk_buff *skb)
 	struct audit_net	*aunet = net_generic(&init_net, audit_net_id);
 	struct sock		*sock = aunet->nlsk;
 
+	if (!netlink_has_listeners(sock, AUDIT_NLGRP_READLOG))
+		return;
+
 	/*
 	 * The seemingly wasteful skb_copy() rather than bumping the refcount
 	 * using skb_get() is necessary because non-standard mods are made to