diff --git a/net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_ftp.c b/net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_ftp.c
index 538d74ee4f68..e39f693dd3e4 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_ftp.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_ftp.c
@@ -439,6 +439,8 @@ static int __net_init __ip_vs_ftp_init(struct net *net)
 	struct ip_vs_app *app;
 	struct netns_ipvs *ipvs = net_ipvs(net);
 
+	if (!ipvs)
+		return -ENOENT;
 	app = kmemdup(&ip_vs_ftp, sizeof(struct ip_vs_app), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!app)
 		return -ENOMEM;