diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 658337bf33e4..1a5d31fdea27 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -1064,7 +1064,7 @@ static int __dev_alloc_name(struct net *net, const char *name, char *buf)
 	unsigned long *inuse;
 	struct net_device *d;
 
-	p = strnchr(name, IFNAMSIZ-1, '%');
+	p = strchr(name, '%');
 	if (p) {
 		/*
 		 * Verify the string as this thing may have come from