diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 138951d286432b09a572aff7d745a96d5209acb2..e4b4cb40da00c943a838218634a2d1658aff36c7 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -9510,6 +9510,8 @@ static void __net_exit default_device_exit(struct net *net)
 
 		/* Push remaining network devices to init_net */
 		snprintf(fb_name, IFNAMSIZ, "dev%d", dev->ifindex);
+		if (__dev_get_by_name(&init_net, fb_name))
+			snprintf(fb_name, IFNAMSIZ, "dev%%d");
 		err = dev_change_net_namespace(dev, &init_net, fb_name);
 		if (err) {
 			pr_emerg("%s: failed to move %s to init_net: %d\n",