diff --git a/net/mptcp/subflow.c b/net/mptcp/subflow.c
index b0e9548f00bf..486b811f4a3f 100644
--- a/net/mptcp/subflow.c
+++ b/net/mptcp/subflow.c
@@ -1316,6 +1316,13 @@ static void subflow_error_report(struct sock *ssk)
 {
 	struct sock *sk = mptcp_subflow_ctx(ssk)->conn;
 
+	/* bail early if this is a no-op, so that we avoid introducing a
+	 * problematic lockdep dependency between TCP accept queue lock
+	 * and msk socket spinlock
+	 */
+	if (!sk->sk_socket)
+		return;
+
 	mptcp_data_lock(sk);
 	if (!sock_owned_by_user(sk))
 		__mptcp_error_report(sk);