diff --git a/drivers/net/macvlan.c b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
index afad90b9222a..a48c9e662fe9 100644
--- a/drivers/net/macvlan.c
+++ b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
@@ -1664,7 +1664,8 @@ static int macvlan_changelink(struct net_device *dev,
 	if (data && data[IFLA_MACVLAN_FLAGS]) {
 		__u16 flags = nla_get_u16(data[IFLA_MACVLAN_FLAGS]);
 		bool promisc = (flags ^ vlan->flags) & MACVLAN_FLAG_NOPROMISC;
-		if (macvlan_passthru(vlan->port) && promisc) {
+		if (macvlan_passthru(vlan->port) && promisc &&
+		    netif_running(dev)) {
 			int err;
 
 			if (flags & MACVLAN_FLAG_NOPROMISC)