diff --git a/net/ipv4/inet_fragment.c b/net/ipv4/inet_fragment.c
index 1e4cf3ab560f..0d70608cc2e1 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/inet_fragment.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/inet_fragment.c
@@ -157,9 +157,6 @@ static struct inet_frag_queue *inet_frag_alloc(struct netns_frags *nf,
 {
 	struct inet_frag_queue *q;
 
-	if (!nf->high_thresh || frag_mem_limit(nf) > nf->high_thresh)
-		return NULL;
-
 	q = kmem_cache_zalloc(f->frags_cachep, GFP_ATOMIC);
 	if (!q)
 		return NULL;
@@ -204,6 +201,9 @@ struct inet_frag_queue *inet_frag_find(struct netns_frags *nf, void *key)
 {
 	struct inet_frag_queue *fq;
 
+	if (!nf->high_thresh || frag_mem_limit(nf) > nf->high_thresh)
+		return NULL;
+
 	rcu_read_lock();
 
 	fq = rhashtable_lookup(&nf->rhashtable, key, nf->f->rhash_params);