diff --git a/net/ipv6/addrconf.c b/net/ipv6/addrconf.c
index f9b5690e94fd..b11ccb53c7e0 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/addrconf.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/addrconf.c
@@ -5719,6 +5719,9 @@ static int inet6_set_link_af(struct net_device *dev, const struct nlattr *nla)
 	struct nlattr *tb[IFLA_INET6_MAX + 1];
 	int err;
 
+	if (!idev)
+		return -EAFNOSUPPORT;
+
 	if (nla_parse_nested_deprecated(tb, IFLA_INET6_MAX, nla, NULL, NULL) < 0)
 		BUG();