diff --git a/drivers/media/usb/siano/smsusb.c b/drivers/media/usb/siano/smsusb.c
index be3634407f1f..2ffded08407b 100644
--- a/drivers/media/usb/siano/smsusb.c
+++ b/drivers/media/usb/siano/smsusb.c
@@ -225,10 +225,9 @@ static int smsusb_sendrequest(void *context, void *buffer, size_t size)
 		return -ENOENT;
 	}
 
-	phdr = kmalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL);
+	phdr = kmemdup(buffer, size, GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!phdr)
 		return -ENOMEM;
-	memcpy(phdr, buffer, size);
 
 	pr_debug("sending %s(%d) size: %d\n",
 		  smscore_translate_msg(phdr->msg_type), phdr->msg_type,