diff --git a/include/net/netlink.h b/include/net/netlink.h
index b680fe365e91..0d698215d4d9 100644
--- a/include/net/netlink.h
+++ b/include/net/netlink.h
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ enum {
 struct nla_policy {
 	u16		type;
 	u16		len;
-	void            *validation_data;
+	const void     *validation_data;
 };
 
 #define NLA_POLICY_EXACT_LEN(_len)	{ .type = NLA_EXACT_LEN, .len = _len }
diff --git a/lib/nlattr.c b/lib/nlattr.c
index 120ad569e13d..e2e5b38394d5 100644
--- a/lib/nlattr.c
+++ b/lib/nlattr.c
@@ -45,12 +45,11 @@ static const u8 nla_attr_minlen[NLA_TYPE_MAX+1] = {
 };
 
 static int validate_nla_bitfield32(const struct nlattr *nla,
-				   u32 *valid_flags_allowed)
+				   const u32 *valid_flags_mask)
 {
 	const struct nla_bitfield32 *bf = nla_data(nla);
-	u32 *valid_flags_mask = valid_flags_allowed;
 
-	if (!valid_flags_allowed)
+	if (!valid_flags_mask)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	/*disallow invalid bit selector */