bool exists = false;
        int ret;
 
-       if (!nla)
+       if (!nla) {
+               NL_SET_ERR_MSG_MOD(extack, "Mirred requires attributes to be passed");
                return -EINVAL;
-       ret = nla_parse_nested(tb, TCA_MIRRED_MAX, nla, mirred_policy, NULL);
+       }
+       ret = nla_parse_nested(tb, TCA_MIRRED_MAX, nla, mirred_policy, extack);
        if (ret < 0)
                return ret;
-       if (!tb[TCA_MIRRED_PARMS])
+       if (!tb[TCA_MIRRED_PARMS]) {
+               NL_SET_ERR_MSG_MOD(extack, "Missing required mirred parameters");
                return -EINVAL;
+       }
        parm = nla_data(tb[TCA_MIRRED_PARMS]);
 
        exists = tcf_idr_check(tn, parm->index, a, bind);
        default:
                if (exists)
                        tcf_idr_release(*a, bind);
+               NL_SET_ERR_MSG_MOD(extack, "Unknown mirred option");
                return -EINVAL;
        }
        if (parm->ifindex) {
        }
 
        if (!exists) {
-               if (!dev)
+               if (!dev) {
+                       NL_SET_ERR_MSG_MOD(extack, "Specified device does not exist");
                        return -EINVAL;
+               }
                ret = tcf_idr_create(tn, parm->index, est, a,
                                     &act_mirred_ops, bind, true);
                if (ret)