diff --git a/drivers/net/macvlan.c b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
index b4df7e184791..c509228be84d 100644
--- a/drivers/net/macvlan.c
+++ b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
@@ -1567,9 +1567,10 @@ destroy_macvlan_port:
 	/* 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(lowerdev)) {
+	if (macvlan_port_get_rtnl(lowerdev)) {
 		macvlan_flush_sources(port, vlan);
-		macvlan_port_destroy(port->dev);
+		if (create)
+			macvlan_port_destroy(port->dev);
 	}
 	return err;
 }