diff --git a/include/net/neighbour.h b/include/net/neighbour.h
index ed9d9ae6d3a6..79a5a548a129 100644
--- a/include/net/neighbour.h
+++ b/include/net/neighbour.h
@@ -554,30 +554,6 @@ static inline int neigh_output(struct neighbour *n, struct sk_buff *skb,
 	return READ_ONCE(n->output)(n, skb);
 }
 
-static inline struct neighbour *
-__neigh_lookup(struct neigh_table *tbl, const void *pkey, struct net_device *dev, int creat)
-{
-	struct neighbour *n = neigh_lookup(tbl, pkey, dev);
-
-	if (n || !creat)
-		return n;
-
-	n = neigh_create(tbl, pkey, dev);
-	return IS_ERR(n) ? NULL : n;
-}
-
-static inline struct neighbour *
-__neigh_lookup_errno(struct neigh_table *tbl, const void *pkey,
-  struct net_device *dev)
-{
-	struct neighbour *n = neigh_lookup(tbl, pkey, dev);
-
-	if (n)
-		return n;
-
-	return neigh_create(tbl, pkey, dev);
-}
-
 struct neighbour_cb {
 	unsigned long sched_next;
 	unsigned int flags;
diff --git a/net/core/neighbour.c b/net/core/neighbour.c
index 6ed8eb075146..0d883c043956 100644
--- a/net/core/neighbour.c
+++ b/net/core/neighbour.c
@@ -1569,8 +1569,13 @@ struct neighbour *neigh_event_ns(struct neigh_table *tbl,
 				 u8 *lladdr, void *saddr,
 				 struct net_device *dev)
 {
-	struct neighbour *neigh = __neigh_lookup(tbl, saddr, dev,
-						 lladdr || !dev->addr_len);
+	struct neighbour *neigh = neigh_lookup(tbl, saddr, dev);
+
+	if (!neigh && (lladdr || !dev->addr_len)) {
+		neigh = neigh_create(tbl, saddr, dev);
+		if (IS_ERR(neigh))
+			neigh = NULL;
+	}
 	if (neigh)
 		neigh_update(neigh, lladdr, NUD_STALE,
 			     NEIGH_UPDATE_F_OVERRIDE, 0);