diff --git a/drivers/net/usb/smsc95xx.c b/drivers/net/usb/smsc95xx.c
index 831aa33d078a..5f19fb0f025d 100644
--- a/drivers/net/usb/smsc95xx.c
+++ b/drivers/net/usb/smsc95xx.c
@@ -2001,13 +2001,13 @@ static struct sk_buff *smsc95xx_tx_fixup(struct usbnet *dev,
 	/* We do not advertise SG, so skbs should be already linearized */
 	BUG_ON(skb_shinfo(skb)->nr_frags);
 
-	if (skb_headroom(skb) < overhead) {
-		struct sk_buff *skb2 = skb_copy_expand(skb,
-			overhead, 0, flags);
+	/* Make writable and expand header space by overhead if required */
+	if (skb_cow_head(skb, overhead)) {
+		/* Must deallocate here as returning NULL to indicate error
+		 * means the skb won't be deallocated in the caller.
+		 */
 		dev_kfree_skb_any(skb);
-		skb = skb2;
-		if (!skb)
-			return NULL;
+		return NULL;
 	}
 
 	if (csum) {