diff --git a/net/core/fib_rules.c b/net/core/fib_rules.c
index 43f0115cce9cb43dbe2e6788a18b7671f404b056..18f8dd8329ede7cd78a9abe9c49f1b8c0e881a6b 100644
--- a/net/core/fib_rules.c
+++ b/net/core/fib_rules.c
@@ -757,9 +757,9 @@ int fib_nl_newrule(struct sk_buff *skb, struct nlmsghdr *nlh,
 	if (err)
 		goto errout;
 
-	if (rule_exists(ops, frh, tb, rule)) {
-		if (nlh->nlmsg_flags & NLM_F_EXCL)
-			err = -EEXIST;
+	if ((nlh->nlmsg_flags & NLM_F_EXCL) &&
+	    rule_exists(ops, frh, tb, rule)) {
+		err = -EEXIST;
 		goto errout_free;
 	}