diff --git a/net/sched/act_tunnel_key.c b/net/sched/act_tunnel_key.c
index 0f6601fdf88999f63d43bade5a9e9d279db71078..72d9c432e8b42693094bd11d524c86d34fd10bf5 100644
--- a/net/sched/act_tunnel_key.c
+++ b/net/sched/act_tunnel_key.c
@@ -377,7 +377,8 @@ static int tunnel_key_init(struct net *net, struct nlattr *nla,
 	return ret;
 
 release_tun_meta:
-	dst_release(&metadata->dst);
+	if (metadata)
+		dst_release(&metadata->dst);
 
 err_out:
 	if (exists)