diff --git a/net/ipv6/addrconf.c b/net/ipv6/addrconf.c
index 34ccef18b40e..f9b5690e94fd 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/addrconf.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/addrconf.c
@@ -5231,16 +5231,16 @@ static int inet6_rtm_valid_getaddr_req(struct sk_buff *skb,
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
+	if (!netlink_strict_get_check(skb))
+		return nlmsg_parse_deprecated(nlh, sizeof(*ifm), tb, IFA_MAX,
+					      ifa_ipv6_policy, extack);
+
 	ifm = nlmsg_data(nlh);
 	if (ifm->ifa_prefixlen || ifm->ifa_flags || ifm->ifa_scope) {
 		NL_SET_ERR_MSG_MOD(extack, "Invalid values in header for get address request");
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
-	if (!netlink_strict_get_check(skb))
-		return nlmsg_parse_deprecated(nlh, sizeof(*ifm), tb, IFA_MAX,
-					      ifa_ipv6_policy, extack);
-
 	err = nlmsg_parse_deprecated_strict(nlh, sizeof(*ifm), tb, IFA_MAX,
 					    ifa_ipv6_policy, extack);
 	if (err)