diff --git a/drivers/net/tun.c b/drivers/net/tun.c
index 92fa35abba92..060135ceaf0e 100644
--- a/drivers/net/tun.c
+++ b/drivers/net/tun.c
@@ -2289,6 +2289,8 @@ static void tun_setup(struct net_device *dev)
 static int tun_validate(struct nlattr *tb[], struct nlattr *data[],
 			struct netlink_ext_ack *extack)
 {
+	if (!data)
+		return 0;
 	return -EINVAL;
 }