diff --git a/net/tipc/link.c b/net/tipc/link.c
index 06327f78f203..6fc2fa75503d 100644
--- a/net/tipc/link.c
+++ b/net/tipc/link.c
@@ -893,6 +893,7 @@ int tipc_link_xmit(struct tipc_link *l, struct sk_buff_head *list,
 	if (pkt_cnt <= 0)
 		return 0;
 
+	hdr = buf_msg(skb_peek(list));
 	imp = msg_importance(hdr);
 	/* Match msg importance against this and all higher backlog limits: */
 	if (!skb_queue_empty(backlogq)) {
@@ -902,7 +903,6 @@ int tipc_link_xmit(struct tipc_link *l, struct sk_buff_head *list,
 		}
 	}
 
-	hdr = buf_msg(skb_peek(list));
 	if (unlikely(msg_size(hdr) > mtu)) {
 		skb_queue_purge(list);
 		return -EMSGSIZE;