diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_main.c
index d4c29e2562a1..3cc344d5228b 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_main.c
@@ -6987,6 +6987,8 @@ ice_bridge_setlink(struct net_device *dev, struct nlmsghdr *nlh,
 	pf_sw = pf->first_sw;
 	/* find the attribute in the netlink message */
 	br_spec = nlmsg_find_attr(nlh, sizeof(struct ifinfomsg), IFLA_AF_SPEC);
+	if (!br_spec)
+		return -EINVAL;
 
 	nla_for_each_nested(attr, br_spec, rem) {
 		__u16 mode;