goto out;
        }
 
-       if (cfg->fc_metric == 0)
-               cfg->fc_metric = IP6_RT_PRIO_USER;
-
        if (cfg->fc_flags & RTNH_F_ONLINK) {
                if (!dev) {
                        NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack,
                .fc_table = l3mdev_fib_table_by_index(net, rtmsg->rtmsg_ifindex) ?
                         : RT6_TABLE_MAIN,
                .fc_ifindex = rtmsg->rtmsg_ifindex,
-               .fc_metric = rtmsg->rtmsg_metric,
+               .fc_metric = rtmsg->rtmsg_metric ? : IP6_RT_PRIO_USER,
                .fc_expires = rtmsg->rtmsg_info,
                .fc_dst_len = rtmsg->rtmsg_dst_len,
                .fc_src_len = rtmsg->rtmsg_src_len,
        if (err < 0)
                return err;
 
+       if (cfg.fc_metric == 0)
+               cfg.fc_metric = IP6_RT_PRIO_USER;
+
        if (cfg.fc_mp)
                return ip6_route_multipath_add(&cfg, extack);
        else