diff --git a/net/core/rtnetlink.c b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
index 09c44bf2e1d2..e1152f4ffe33 100644
--- a/net/core/rtnetlink.c
+++ b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
@@ -3504,27 +3504,25 @@ static int rtnl_alt_ifname(int cmd, struct net_device *dev, struct nlattr *attr,
 	if (err)
 		return err;
 
-	alt_ifname = nla_data(attr);
+	alt_ifname = nla_strdup(attr, GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (!alt_ifname)
+		return -ENOMEM;
+
 	if (cmd == RTM_NEWLINKPROP) {
-		alt_ifname = kstrdup(alt_ifname, GFP_KERNEL);
-		if (!alt_ifname)
-			return -ENOMEM;
 		err = netdev_name_node_alt_create(dev, alt_ifname);
-		if (err) {
-			kfree(alt_ifname);
-			return err;
-		}
+		if (!err)
+			alt_ifname = NULL;
 	} else if (cmd == RTM_DELLINKPROP) {
 		err = netdev_name_node_alt_destroy(dev, alt_ifname);
-		if (err)
-			return err;
 	} else {
-		WARN_ON(1);
-		return 0;
+		WARN_ON_ONCE(1);
+		err = -EINVAL;
 	}
 
-	*changed = true;
-	return 0;
+	kfree(alt_ifname);
+	if (!err)
+		*changed = true;
+	return err;
 }
 
 static int rtnl_linkprop(int cmd, struct sk_buff *skb, struct nlmsghdr *nlh,