diff --git a/net/core/devlink.c b/net/core/devlink.c
index 38666dde893409ebe93c36f9a3bb307843c93fcc..99939fb05ca9b06b8be7239cd83b0c92c6d1e464 100644
--- a/net/core/devlink.c
+++ b/net/core/devlink.c
@@ -10340,10 +10340,14 @@ static int __init devlink_init(void)
 {
 	int err;
 
-	err = genl_register_family(&devlink_nl_family);
+	err = register_pernet_subsys(&devlink_pernet_ops);
 	if (err)
 		goto out;
-	err = register_pernet_subsys(&devlink_pernet_ops);
+	err = genl_register_family(&devlink_nl_family);
+	if (!err)
+		return 0;
+
+	unregister_pernet_subsys(&devlink_pernet_ops);
 
 out:
 	WARN_ON(err);