diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/ipoib_vlan.c b/drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/ipoib_vlan.c
index 8151d1a6acb1..93b50be14438 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/ipoib_vlan.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/ipoib_vlan.c
@@ -165,11 +165,11 @@ int ipoib_vlan_add(struct net_device *pdev, unsigned short pkey)
 out:
 	up_write(&ppriv->vlan_rwsem);
 
+	rtnl_unlock();
+
 	if (result)
 		free_netdev(priv->dev);
 
-	rtnl_unlock();
-
 	return result;
 }