diff --git a/drivers/net/macvlan.c b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
index a0f2be81d52e4..8fc02d9db3d01 100644
--- a/drivers/net/macvlan.c
+++ b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
@@ -1451,7 +1451,7 @@ int macvlan_common_newlink(struct net *src_net, struct net_device *dev,
 	/* the macvlan port may be freed by macvlan_uninit when fail to register.
 	 * so we destroy the macvlan port only when it's valid.
 	 */
-	if (create && macvlan_port_get_rtnl(dev))
+	if (create && macvlan_port_get_rtnl(lowerdev))
 		macvlan_port_destroy(port->dev);
 	return err;
 }