diff --git a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
index c8416792cce0..215fc08c02ab 100644
--- a/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
+++ b/net/netlink/af_netlink.c
@@ -1033,6 +1033,14 @@ static int netlink_getname(struct socket *sock, struct sockaddr *addr,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int netlink_ioctl(struct socket *sock, unsigned int cmd,
+			 unsigned long arg)
+{
+	/* try to hand this ioctl down to the NIC drivers.
+	 */
+	return -ENOIOCTLCMD;
+}
+
 static struct sock *netlink_getsockbyportid(struct sock *ssk, u32 portid)
 {
 	struct sock *sock;
@@ -2494,7 +2502,7 @@ static const struct proto_ops netlink_ops = {
 	.accept =	sock_no_accept,
 	.getname =	netlink_getname,
 	.poll =		datagram_poll,
-	.ioctl =	sock_no_ioctl,
+	.ioctl =	netlink_ioctl,
 	.listen =	sock_no_listen,
 	.shutdown =	sock_no_shutdown,
 	.setsockopt =	netlink_setsockopt,