diff --git a/net/mpls/af_mpls.c b/net/mpls/af_mpls.c
index b18c5ed..0b80a71 100644
--- a/net/mpls/af_mpls.c
+++ b/net/mpls/af_mpls.c
@@ -543,6 +543,9 @@
 	if (!dev)
 		return ERR_PTR(-ENODEV);
 
+	if (IS_ERR(dev))
+		return dev;
+
 	/* The caller is holding rtnl anyways, so release the dev reference */
 	dev_put(dev);