diff --git a/net/rds/connection.c b/net/rds/connection.c
index d4564036a339a04d31c65ec6c90cdc9e6a051efc..e3b118cae81d5e859e0244df1bf323aaa1798b8e 100644
--- a/net/rds/connection.c
+++ b/net/rds/connection.c
@@ -186,12 +186,6 @@ static struct rds_connection *__rds_conn_create(struct net *net,
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (trans == NULL) {
-		kmem_cache_free(rds_conn_slab, conn);
-		conn = ERR_PTR(-ENODEV);
-		goto out;
-	}
-
 	conn->c_trans = trans;
 
 	ret = trans->conn_alloc(conn, gfp);
diff --git a/net/rds/send.c b/net/rds/send.c
index 827155c2ead10376cb633c45c2f43917f5f5cd12..c9cdb358ea885e3e356cc675b579f1313ed94ff9 100644
--- a/net/rds/send.c
+++ b/net/rds/send.c
@@ -1013,11 +1013,13 @@ int rds_sendmsg(struct socket *sock, struct msghdr *msg, size_t payload_len)
 		release_sock(sk);
 	}
 
-	/* racing with another thread binding seems ok here */
+	lock_sock(sk);
 	if (daddr == 0 || rs->rs_bound_addr == 0) {
+		release_sock(sk);
 		ret = -ENOTCONN; /* XXX not a great errno */
 		goto out;
 	}
+	release_sock(sk);
 
 	if (payload_len > rds_sk_sndbuf(rs)) {
 		ret = -EMSGSIZE;