diff --git a/drivers/staging/rtl8187se/ieee80211/ieee80211_softmac.c b/drivers/staging/rtl8187se/ieee80211/ieee80211_softmac.c
index 652d879509e6b..74a3b4c211ad4 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/rtl8187se/ieee80211/ieee80211_softmac.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/rtl8187se/ieee80211/ieee80211_softmac.c
@@ -1435,8 +1435,9 @@ static inline u16 auth_parse(struct sk_buff *skb, u8** challenge, int *chlen)
 
 		if(*(t++) == MFIE_TYPE_CHALLENGE){
 			*chlen = *(t++);
-			*challenge = kmalloc(*chlen, GFP_ATOMIC);
-			memcpy(*challenge, t, *chlen);
+			*challenge = kmemdup(t, *chlen, GFP_ATOMIC);
+			if (!*challenge)
+				return -ENOMEM;
 		}
 	}