diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/core/nldev.c b/drivers/infiniband/core/nldev.c
index 39f89a4b8649..7dc8e2ec62cc 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/core/nldev.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/core/nldev.c
@@ -2816,6 +2816,8 @@ int rdma_nl_notify_event(struct ib_device *device, u32 port_num,
 	nlh = nlmsg_put(skb, 0, 0,
 			RDMA_NL_GET_TYPE(RDMA_NL_NLDEV, RDMA_NLDEV_CMD_MONITOR),
 			0, 0);
+	if (!nlh)
+		goto err_free;
 
 	switch (type) {
 	case RDMA_REGISTER_EVENT: