diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/core/addr.c b/drivers/infiniband/core/addr.c
index 30cf764824ecf976f4fdbc23c75cb8acb596e1bc..7310ece99cd90f8bfc26f168077b9463b2544315 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/core/addr.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/core/addr.c
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ static void queue_req(struct addr_req *req)
 static int ib_nl_fetch_ha(struct dst_entry *dst, struct rdma_dev_addr *dev_addr,
 			  const void *daddr, u32 seq, u16 family)
 {
-	if (ibnl_chk_listeners(RDMA_NL_GROUP_LS))
+	if (rdma_nl_chk_listeners(RDMA_NL_GROUP_LS))
 		return -EADDRNOTAVAIL;
 
 	/* We fill in what we can, the response will fill the rest */
diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c b/drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c
index 5c627d1fbaa9b17ba394cf78bb08ad0c51f7e611..514959ccaf2de5d80b430201ce507afe00d129e8 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/core/netlink.c
@@ -47,12 +47,11 @@ static struct {
 	const struct ibnl_client_cbs   *cb_table;
 } rdma_nl_types[RDMA_NL_NUM_CLIENTS];
 
-int ibnl_chk_listeners(unsigned int group)
+int rdma_nl_chk_listeners(unsigned int group)
 {
-	if (netlink_has_listeners(nls, group) == 0)
-		return -1;
-	return 0;
+	return (netlink_has_listeners(nls, group)) ? 0 : -1;
 }
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(rdma_nl_chk_listeners);
 
 static bool is_nl_msg_valid(unsigned int type, unsigned int op)
 {
diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/core/sa_query.c b/drivers/infiniband/core/sa_query.c
index 977f64d0e98392d0d56c0088a151f3115cfb44e4..2cc85c2b74b71f0a0fd550ea2387e7dd7a0f634b 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/core/sa_query.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/core/sa_query.c
@@ -1418,7 +1418,7 @@ static int send_mad(struct ib_sa_query *query, int timeout_ms, gfp_t gfp_mask)
 
 	if ((query->flags & IB_SA_ENABLE_LOCAL_SERVICE) &&
 	    (!(query->flags & IB_SA_QUERY_OPA))) {
-		if (!ibnl_chk_listeners(RDMA_NL_GROUP_LS)) {
+		if (!rdma_nl_chk_listeners(RDMA_NL_GROUP_LS)) {
 			if (!ib_nl_make_request(query, gfp_mask))
 				return id;
 		}
diff --git a/include/rdma/rdma_netlink.h b/include/rdma/rdma_netlink.h
index 16a94c425938e898ebab9e7dcec6d6ed4c1e7a56..348e0bbe0fc94624b6243611210a3185c91bc20a 100644
--- a/include/rdma/rdma_netlink.h
+++ b/include/rdma/rdma_netlink.h
@@ -78,4 +78,10 @@ int rdma_nl_unicast_wait(struct sk_buff *skb, __u32 pid);
  */
 int rdma_nl_multicast(struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int group, gfp_t flags);
 
+/**
+ * Check if there are any listeners to the netlink group
+ * @group: the netlink group ID
+ * Returns 0 on success or a negative for no listeners.
+ */
+int rdma_nl_chk_listeners(unsigned int group);
 #endif /* _RDMA_NETLINK_H */