diff --git a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
index e3553056cec06af82a5472b66b280ab2d9cc125e..3595127f714f6e0897f964aa767df457359d6777 100644
--- a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
+++ b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
@@ -1536,7 +1536,7 @@ static int xmit_skb(struct send_queue *sq, struct sk_buff *skb)
 	if (virtio_net_hdr_from_skb(skb, &hdr->hdr,
 				    virtio_is_little_endian(vi->vdev), false,
 				    0))
-		BUG();
+		return -EPROTO;
 
 	if (vi->mergeable_rx_bufs)
 		hdr->num_buffers = 0;