diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/liquidio/octeon_device.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/liquidio/octeon_device.c
index f67641a2ff9eff652a7998f4c6d8f8fab873fc63..8e23e3fad662bc4639db429ec99f773729e910f3 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/liquidio/octeon_device.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/liquidio/octeon_device.c
@@ -602,12 +602,10 @@ int octeon_download_firmware(struct octeon_device *oct, const u8 *data,
 	snprintf(oct->fw_info.liquidio_firmware_version, 32, "LIQUIDIO: %s",
 		 h->version);
 
-	buffer = kmalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL);
+	buffer = kmemdup(data, size, GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!buffer)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
-	memcpy(buffer, data, size);
-
 	p = buffer + sizeof(struct octeon_firmware_file_header);
 
 	/* load all images */