diff --git a/drivers/net/slip/slip.c b/drivers/net/slip/slip.c
index faae711cf793..85b2438e8923 100644
--- a/drivers/net/slip/slip.c
+++ b/drivers/net/slip/slip.c
@@ -628,9 +628,15 @@ static void sl_uninit(struct net_device *dev)
 	struct slip *sl = netdev_priv(dev);
 
 	sl_free_bufs(sl);
+	/* Drop the slip_devs[] entry here rather than from the destructor:
+	 * ndo_uninit runs under RTNL, so it cannot race sl_sync().
+	 */
+	slip_devs[dev->base_addr] = NULL;
 }
 
-/* Hook the destructor so we can free slip devices at the right point in time */
+/* Only for the slip_open() error path: register_netdevice() can fail before
+ * ndo_init, and then ndo_uninit is not called either.
+ */
 static void sl_free_netdev(struct net_device *dev)
 {
 	int i = dev->base_addr;
@@ -657,7 +663,6 @@ static void sl_setup(struct net_device *dev)
 {
 	dev->netdev_ops		= &sl_netdev_ops;
 	dev->needs_free_netdev	= true;
-	dev->priv_destructor	= sl_free_netdev;
 
 	dev->hard_header_len	= 0;
 	dev->addr_len		= 0;
@@ -908,7 +913,7 @@ static void slip_close(struct tty_struct *tty)
 #endif
 	/* Flush network side */
 	unregister_netdev(sl->dev);
-	/* This will complete via sl_free_netdev */
+	/* sl_uninit() has dropped the slip_devs[] entry by now */
 }
 
 static void slip_hangup(struct tty_struct *tty)