diff --git a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
index b4a29bcc33b9e909a328592e514ee232a177785b..0ae6627aba39fb132f8ac21810b9905edca472ac 100644
--- a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
+++ b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
@@ -993,7 +993,7 @@ 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))
@@ -1001,6 +1001,7 @@ 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) {