enum ice_vsi_state {
        ICE_VSI_DOWN,
        ICE_VSI_NEEDS_RESTART,
+       ICE_VSI_NETDEV_ALLOCD,
+       ICE_VSI_NETDEV_REGISTERED,
        ICE_VSI_UMAC_FLTR_CHANGED,
        ICE_VSI_MMAC_FLTR_CHANGED,
        ICE_VSI_VLAN_FLTR_CHANGED,
 
         * PF that is running the work queue items currently. This is done to
         * avoid check_flush_dependency() warning on this wq
         */
-       if (vsi->netdev && !ice_is_reset_in_progress(pf->state)) {
+       if (vsi->netdev && !ice_is_reset_in_progress(pf->state) &&
+           (test_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_REGISTERED, vsi->state))) {
                unregister_netdev(vsi->netdev);
-               ice_devlink_destroy_port(vsi);
+               clear_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_REGISTERED, vsi->state);
        }
 
+       ice_devlink_destroy_port(vsi);
+
        if (test_bit(ICE_FLAG_RSS_ENA, pf->flags))
                ice_rss_clean(vsi);
 
        ice_vsi_delete(vsi);
        ice_vsi_free_q_vectors(vsi);
 
-       /* make sure unregister_netdev() was called by checking ICE_DOWN */
-       if (vsi->netdev && test_bit(ICE_VSI_DOWN, vsi->state)) {
-               free_netdev(vsi->netdev);
-               vsi->netdev = NULL;
+       if (vsi->netdev) {
+               if (test_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_REGISTERED, vsi->state)) {
+                       unregister_netdev(vsi->netdev);
+                       clear_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_REGISTERED, vsi->state);
+               }
+               if (test_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_ALLOCD, vsi->state)) {
+                       free_netdev(vsi->netdev);
+                       vsi->netdev = NULL;
+                       clear_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_ALLOCD, vsi->state);
+               }
        }
 
        if (vsi->type == ICE_VSI_VF &&
 
        if (!netdev)
                return -ENOMEM;
 
+       set_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_ALLOCD, vsi->state);
        vsi->netdev = netdev;
        np = netdev_priv(netdev);
        np->vsi = vsi;
        if (vsi) {
                ice_napi_del(vsi);
                if (vsi->netdev) {
+                       clear_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_ALLOCD, vsi->state);
                        free_netdev(vsi->netdev);
                        vsi->netdev = NULL;
                }
        if (err)
                goto err_register_netdev;
 
+       set_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_REGISTERED, vsi->state);
        netif_carrier_off(vsi->netdev);
        netif_tx_stop_all_queues(vsi->netdev);
        err = ice_devlink_create_port(vsi);
        return 0;
 err_devlink_create:
        unregister_netdev(vsi->netdev);
+       clear_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_REGISTERED, vsi->state);
 err_register_netdev:
        free_netdev(vsi->netdev);
        vsi->netdev = NULL;
+       clear_bit(ICE_VSI_NETDEV_ALLOCD, vsi->state);
        return err;
 }