diff --git a/net/core/netpoll.c b/net/core/netpoll.c
index 7291dde934690e1acbb62d89d86897630ed9d0b2..41c4e9ce1141b24d84de68ab013f71a9d3a1ba50 100644
--- a/net/core/netpoll.c
+++ b/net/core/netpoll.c
@@ -809,7 +809,7 @@ void __netpoll_cleanup(struct netpoll *np)
 		if (ops->ndo_netpoll_cleanup)
 			ops->ndo_netpoll_cleanup(np->dev);
 
-		rcu_assign_pointer(np->dev->npinfo, NULL);
+		RCU_INIT_POINTER(np->dev->npinfo, NULL);
 		call_rcu_bh(&npinfo->rcu, rcu_cleanup_netpoll_info);
 	}
 }