diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index db5345f5f7b0..152e1e6316e6 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -7768,6 +7768,8 @@ static void __net_exit default_device_exit(struct net *net)
 
 		/* Push remaining network devices to init_net */
 		snprintf(fb_name, IFNAMSIZ, "dev%d", dev->ifindex);
+		if (__dev_get_by_name(&init_net, fb_name))
+			snprintf(fb_name, IFNAMSIZ, "dev%%d");
 		err = dev_change_net_namespace(dev, &init_net, fb_name);
 		if (err) {
 			pr_emerg("%s: failed to move %s to init_net: %d\n",