struct slave *slave)
 {
        struct arphdr *arp = (struct arphdr *)skb->data;
+       struct slave *curr_active_slave;
        unsigned char *arp_ptr;
        __be32 sip, tip;
        int alen, is_arp = skb->protocol == __cpu_to_be16(ETH_P_ARP);
                 bond->params.arp_validate, slave_do_arp_validate(bond, slave),
                 &sip, &tip);
 
+       curr_active_slave = rcu_dereference(bond->curr_active_slave);
+
        /*
         * Backup slaves won't see the ARP reply, but do come through
         * here for each ARP probe (so we swap the sip/tip to validate
         * is done to avoid endless looping when we can't reach the
         * arp_ip_target and fool ourselves with our own arp requests.
         */
+
        if (bond_is_active_slave(slave))
                bond_validate_arp(bond, slave, sip, tip);
-       else if (bond->curr_active_slave &&
-                time_after(slave_last_rx(bond, bond->curr_active_slave),
-                           bond->curr_active_slave->last_link_up))
+       else if (curr_active_slave &&
+                time_after(slave_last_rx(bond, curr_active_slave),
+                           curr_active_slave->last_link_up))
                bond_validate_arp(bond, slave, tip, sip);
 
 out_unlock: