diff --git a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
index a904dc3bcad6..fec2879c497d 100644
--- a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
+++ b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
@@ -2157,8 +2157,12 @@ void __netlink_clear_multicast_users(struct sock *ksk, unsigned int group)
 	struct netlink_table *tbl = &nl_table[ksk->sk_protocol];
 	struct hlist_node *tmp;
 
-	sk_for_each_bound_safe(sk, tmp, &tbl->mc_list)
+	sk_for_each_bound_safe(sk, tmp, &tbl->mc_list) {
+		/* bitmap predates the group, can't be a member */
+		if (group - 1 >= nlk_sk(sk)->ngroups)
+			continue;
 		netlink_update_socket_mc(nlk_sk(sk), group, 0);
+	}
 }
 
 struct nlmsghdr *