diff --git a/net/qrtr/qrtr.c b/net/qrtr/qrtr.c
index a699e318b9a0..d6d2736ec927 100644
--- a/net/qrtr/qrtr.c
+++ b/net/qrtr/qrtr.c
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ static int qrtr_node_enqueue(struct qrtr_node *node, struct sk_buff *skb,
 {
 	struct qrtr_hdr_v1 *hdr;
 	size_t len = skb->len;
-	int rc = -ENODEV;
+	int rc;
 
 	hdr = skb_push(skb, sizeof(*hdr));
 	hdr->version = cpu_to_le32(QRTR_PROTO_VER_1);
@@ -196,15 +196,17 @@ static int qrtr_node_enqueue(struct qrtr_node *node, struct sk_buff *skb,
 	hdr->size = cpu_to_le32(len);
 	hdr->confirm_rx = 0;
 
-	skb_put_padto(skb, ALIGN(len, 4) + sizeof(*hdr));
-
-	mutex_lock(&node->ep_lock);
-	if (node->ep)
-		rc = node->ep->xmit(node->ep, skb);
-	else
-		kfree_skb(skb);
-	mutex_unlock(&node->ep_lock);
+	rc = skb_put_padto(skb, ALIGN(len, 4) + sizeof(*hdr));
 
+	if (!rc) {
+		mutex_lock(&node->ep_lock);
+		rc = -ENODEV;
+		if (node->ep)
+			rc = node->ep->xmit(node->ep, skb);
+		else
+			kfree_skb(skb);
+		mutex_unlock(&node->ep_lock);
+	}
 	return rc;
 }