diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 08c0e7613ef6..f79b513e80dc 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -8652,6 +8652,8 @@ static void __net_exit default_device_exit(struct net *net)
 
 		/* Push remaining network devices to init_net */
 		snprintf(fb_name, IFNAMSIZ, "dev%d", dev->ifindex);
+		if (__dev_get_by_name(&init_net, fb_name))
+			snprintf(fb_name, IFNAMSIZ, "dev%%d");
 		err = dev_change_net_namespace(dev, &init_net, fb_name);
 		if (err) {
 			pr_emerg("%s: failed to move %s to init_net: %d\n",