diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlxsw/core_linecard_dev.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlxsw/core_linecard_dev.c
index af37e650a8ad..e8d6fe35bf36 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlxsw/core_linecard_dev.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlxsw/core_linecard_dev.c
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ static int mlxsw_linecard_bdev_probe(struct auxiliary_device *adev,
 	struct mlxsw_linecard *linecard = linecard_bdev->linecard;
 	struct mlxsw_linecard_dev *linecard_dev;
 	struct devlink *devlink;
+	int err;
 
 	devlink = devlink_alloc(&mlxsw_linecard_dev_devlink_ops,
 				sizeof(*linecard_dev), &adev->dev);
@@ -141,8 +142,12 @@ static int mlxsw_linecard_bdev_probe(struct auxiliary_device *adev,
 	linecard_dev->linecard = linecard_bdev->linecard;
 	linecard_bdev->linecard_dev = linecard_dev;
 
+	err = devlink_linecard_nested_dl_set(linecard->devlink_linecard, devlink);
+	if (err) {
+		devlink_free(devlink);
+		return err;
+	}
 	devlink_register(devlink);
-	devlink_linecard_nested_dl_set(linecard->devlink_linecard, devlink);
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -151,9 +156,7 @@ static void mlxsw_linecard_bdev_remove(struct auxiliary_device *adev)
 	struct mlxsw_linecard_bdev *linecard_bdev =
 			container_of(adev, struct mlxsw_linecard_bdev, adev);
 	struct devlink *devlink = priv_to_devlink(linecard_bdev->linecard_dev);
-	struct mlxsw_linecard *linecard = linecard_bdev->linecard;
 
-	devlink_linecard_nested_dl_set(linecard->devlink_linecard, NULL);
 	devlink_unregister(devlink);
 	devlink_free(devlink);
 }
diff --git a/include/net/devlink.h b/include/net/devlink.h
index 2655ab6101ec..0dfcd7d7fa18 100644
--- a/include/net/devlink.h
+++ b/include/net/devlink.h
@@ -1720,8 +1720,8 @@ void devlink_linecard_provision_clear(struct devlink_linecard *linecard);
 void devlink_linecard_provision_fail(struct devlink_linecard *linecard);
 void devlink_linecard_activate(struct devlink_linecard *linecard);
 void devlink_linecard_deactivate(struct devlink_linecard *linecard);
-void devlink_linecard_nested_dl_set(struct devlink_linecard *linecard,
-				    struct devlink *nested_devlink);
+int devlink_linecard_nested_dl_set(struct devlink_linecard *linecard,
+				   struct devlink *nested_devlink);
 int devl_sb_register(struct devlink *devlink, unsigned int sb_index,
 		     u32 size, u16 ingress_pools_count,
 		     u16 egress_pools_count, u16 ingress_tc_count,
diff --git a/net/devlink/linecard.c b/net/devlink/linecard.c
index 36170f466878..9ff1813f88c5 100644
--- a/net/devlink/linecard.c
+++ b/net/devlink/linecard.c
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ struct devlink_linecard {
 	const char *type;
 	struct devlink_linecard_type *types;
 	unsigned int types_count;
-	struct devlink *nested_devlink;
+	u32 rel_index;
 };
 
 unsigned int devlink_linecard_index(struct devlink_linecard *linecard)
@@ -112,10 +112,10 @@ static int devlink_nl_linecard_fill(struct sk_buff *msg,
 		nla_nest_end(msg, attr);
 	}
 
-	if (linecard->nested_devlink &&
-	    devlink_nl_put_nested_handle(msg, devlink_net(devlink),
-					 linecard->nested_devlink,
-					 DEVLINK_ATTR_NESTED_DEVLINK))
+	if (devlink_rel_devlink_handle_put(msg, devlink,
+					   linecard->rel_index,
+					   DEVLINK_ATTR_NESTED_DEVLINK,
+					   NULL))
 		goto nla_put_failure;
 
 	genlmsg_end(msg, hdr);
@@ -524,7 +524,6 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(devlink_linecard_provision_set);
 void devlink_linecard_provision_clear(struct devlink_linecard *linecard)
 {
 	mutex_lock(&linecard->state_lock);
-	WARN_ON(linecard->nested_devlink);
 	linecard->state = DEVLINK_LINECARD_STATE_UNPROVISIONED;
 	linecard->type = NULL;
 	devlink_linecard_notify(linecard, DEVLINK_CMD_LINECARD_NEW);
@@ -543,7 +542,6 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(devlink_linecard_provision_clear);
 void devlink_linecard_provision_fail(struct devlink_linecard *linecard)
 {
 	mutex_lock(&linecard->state_lock);
-	WARN_ON(linecard->nested_devlink);
 	linecard->state = DEVLINK_LINECARD_STATE_PROVISIONING_FAILED;
 	devlink_linecard_notify(linecard, DEVLINK_CMD_LINECARD_NEW);
 	mutex_unlock(&linecard->state_lock);
@@ -591,6 +589,27 @@ void devlink_linecard_deactivate(struct devlink_linecard *linecard)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(devlink_linecard_deactivate);
 
+static void devlink_linecard_rel_notify_cb(struct devlink *devlink,
+					   u32 linecard_index)
+{
+	struct devlink_linecard *linecard;
+
+	linecard = devlink_linecard_get_by_index(devlink, linecard_index);
+	if (!linecard)
+		return;
+	devlink_linecard_notify(linecard, DEVLINK_CMD_LINECARD_NEW);
+}
+
+static void devlink_linecard_rel_cleanup_cb(struct devlink *devlink,
+					    u32 linecard_index, u32 rel_index)
+{
+	struct devlink_linecard *linecard;
+
+	linecard = devlink_linecard_get_by_index(devlink, linecard_index);
+	if (linecard && linecard->rel_index == rel_index)
+		linecard->rel_index = 0;
+}
+
 /**
  *	devlink_linecard_nested_dl_set - Attach/detach nested devlink
  *					 instance to linecard.
@@ -598,12 +617,14 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(devlink_linecard_deactivate);
  *	@linecard: devlink linecard
  *	@nested_devlink: devlink instance to attach or NULL to detach
  */
-void devlink_linecard_nested_dl_set(struct devlink_linecard *linecard,
-				    struct devlink *nested_devlink)
+int devlink_linecard_nested_dl_set(struct devlink_linecard *linecard,
+				   struct devlink *nested_devlink)
 {
-	mutex_lock(&linecard->state_lock);
-	linecard->nested_devlink = nested_devlink;
-	devlink_linecard_notify(linecard, DEVLINK_CMD_LINECARD_NEW);
-	mutex_unlock(&linecard->state_lock);
+	return devlink_rel_nested_in_add(&linecard->rel_index,
+					 linecard->devlink->index,
+					 linecard->index,
+					 devlink_linecard_rel_notify_cb,
+					 devlink_linecard_rel_cleanup_cb,
+					 nested_devlink);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(devlink_linecard_nested_dl_set);