diff --git a/drivers/net/tun.c b/drivers/net/tun.c
index 93285687cf13..9142db847ee1 100644
--- a/drivers/net/tun.c
+++ b/drivers/net/tun.c
@@ -2005,7 +2005,11 @@ static long __tun_chr_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd,
 	rtnl_lock();
 
 	tun = __tun_get(tfile);
-	if (cmd == TUNSETIFF && !tun) {
+	if (cmd == TUNSETIFF) {
+		ret = -EEXIST;
+		if (tun)
+			goto unlock;
+
 		ifr.ifr_name[IFNAMSIZ-1] = '\0';
 
 		ret = tun_set_iff(sock_net(&tfile->sk), file, &ifr);