diff --git a/drivers/net/plip/plip.c b/drivers/net/plip/plip.c
index 82d609401711..2a2cb9d453e8 100644
--- a/drivers/net/plip/plip.c
+++ b/drivers/net/plip/plip.c
@@ -1107,7 +1107,7 @@ plip_open(struct net_device *dev)
 		/* Any address will do - we take the first. We already
 		   have the first two bytes filled with 0xfc, from
 		   plip_init_dev(). */
-		const struct in_ifaddr *ifa = rcu_dereference(in_dev->ifa_list);
+		const struct in_ifaddr *ifa = rtnl_dereference(in_dev->ifa_list);
 		if (ifa != NULL) {
 			memcpy(dev->dev_addr+2, &ifa->ifa_local, 4);
 		}