diff --git a/net/core/net-sysfs.c b/net/core/net-sysfs.c
index 40937ee63f1498442dda48c2e6cd66b2f137c0dd..99061b0a1ebd0f9b823726533f982de6ded17ee4 100644
--- a/net/core/net-sysfs.c
+++ b/net/core/net-sysfs.c
@@ -1511,7 +1511,7 @@ static const void *net_namespace(struct device *d)
 	return dev_net(dev);
 }
 
-static struct class net_class = {
+static struct class net_class __ro_after_init = {
 	.name = "net",
 	.dev_release = netdev_release,
 	.dev_groups = net_class_groups,