diff --git a/net/core/netpoll.c b/net/core/netpoll.c
index c02a08d..996787b 100644
--- a/net/core/netpoll.c
+++ b/net/core/netpoll.c
@@ -732,6 +732,9 @@
 	/* last thing to do is link it to the net device structure */
 	ndev->npinfo = npinfo;
 
+	/* avoid racing with NAPI reading npinfo */
+	synchronize_rcu();
+
 	return 0;
 
  release: