diff --git a/net/core/rtnetlink.c b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
index 750db57f3bb3e628b44a481c11eea954d21ce88d..31459ef13ca2bdb7350b51fa6be371b6c89d1b50 100644
--- a/net/core/rtnetlink.c
+++ b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
@@ -1121,8 +1121,7 @@ static int validate_linkmsg(struct net_device *dev, struct nlattr *tb[])
 				return -EOPNOTSUPP;
 
 			if (af_ops->validate_link_af) {
-				err = af_ops->validate_link_af(dev,
-							tb[IFLA_AF_SPEC]);
+				err = af_ops->validate_link_af(dev, af);
 				if (err < 0)
 					return err;
 			}