diff --git a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
index f28e937320a3b453371143a035e6967482d17cd4..216ab915dd54d4ad7f205aac9f0ab3e3291a2684 100644
--- a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
+++ b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
@@ -988,7 +988,7 @@ static int netlink_bind(struct socket *sock, struct sockaddr *addr,
 	struct netlink_sock *nlk = nlk_sk(sk);
 	struct sockaddr_nl *nladdr = (struct sockaddr_nl *)addr;
 	int err = 0;
-	unsigned long groups = nladdr->nl_groups;
+	unsigned long groups;
 	bool bound;
 
 	if (addr_len < sizeof(struct sockaddr_nl))
@@ -996,6 +996,7 @@ static int netlink_bind(struct socket *sock, struct sockaddr *addr,
 
 	if (nladdr->nl_family != AF_NETLINK)
 		return -EINVAL;
+	groups = nladdr->nl_groups;
 
 	/* Only superuser is allowed to listen multicasts */
 	if (groups) {