diff --git a/net/ipv4/ipmr.c b/net/ipv4/ipmr.c
index 05fb6eefe0be..2628cd3a93a6 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/ipmr.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/ipmr.c
@@ -537,15 +537,16 @@ static netdev_tx_t reg_vif_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
 	};
 	int err;
 
+	rcu_read_lock();
 	err = ipmr_fib_lookup(net, &fl4, &mrt);
 	if (err < 0) {
+		rcu_read_unlock();
 		kfree_skb(skb);
 		return err;
 	}
 
 	DEV_STATS_ADD(dev, tx_bytes, skb->len);
 	DEV_STATS_INC(dev, tx_packets);
-	rcu_read_lock();
 
 	/* Pairs with WRITE_ONCE() in vif_add() and vif_delete() */
 	ipmr_cache_report(mrt, skb, READ_ONCE(mrt->mroute_reg_vif_num),