diff --git a/net/sched/cls_flower.c b/net/sched/cls_flower.c
index 1319986693fc..794152491bdc 100644
--- a/net/sched/cls_flower.c
+++ b/net/sched/cls_flower.c
@@ -1264,14 +1264,13 @@ static int fl_set_enc_opt(struct nlattr **tb, struct fl_flow_key *key,
 	nla_enc_key = nla_data(tb[TCA_FLOWER_KEY_ENC_OPTS]);
 
 	if (tb[TCA_FLOWER_KEY_ENC_OPTS_MASK]) {
-		err = nla_validate_nested_deprecated(tb[TCA_FLOWER_KEY_ENC_OPTS_MASK],
-						     TCA_FLOWER_KEY_ENC_OPTS_MAX,
-						     enc_opts_policy, extack);
-		if (err)
-			return err;
-
 		nla_opt_msk = nla_data(tb[TCA_FLOWER_KEY_ENC_OPTS_MASK]);
 		msk_depth = nla_len(tb[TCA_FLOWER_KEY_ENC_OPTS_MASK]);
+		err = nla_validate_deprecated(nla_opt_msk, msk_depth,
+					      TCA_FLOWER_KEY_ENC_OPTS_MAX,
+					      enc_opts_policy, extack);
+		if (err)
+			return err;
 	}
 
 	nla_for_each_attr(nla_opt_key, nla_enc_key,