diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/rep/tc.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/rep/tc.c
index 76177f7c5ec29..e6f782743fbe8 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/rep/tc.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/rep/tc.c
@@ -643,7 +643,7 @@ bool mlx5e_rep_tc_update_skb(struct mlx5_cqe64 *cqe,
 	}
 
 	if (chain) {
-		tc_skb_ext = skb_ext_add(skb, TC_SKB_EXT);
+		tc_skb_ext = tc_skb_ext_alloc(skb);
 		if (!tc_skb_ext) {
 			WARN_ON(1);
 			return false;
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_tc.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_tc.c
index e60b8bc9b8046..1bdeb948f56d7 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_tc.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_tc.c
@@ -5494,7 +5494,7 @@ bool mlx5e_tc_update_skb(struct mlx5_cqe64 *cqe,
 	}
 
 	if (chain) {
-		tc_skb_ext = skb_ext_add(skb, TC_SKB_EXT);
+		tc_skb_ext = tc_skb_ext_alloc(skb);
 		if (WARN_ON(!tc_skb_ext))
 			return false;
 
diff --git a/include/net/pkt_cls.h b/include/net/pkt_cls.h
index d4d4612363519..b608be532964f 100644
--- a/include/net/pkt_cls.h
+++ b/include/net/pkt_cls.h
@@ -709,6 +709,17 @@ tc_cls_common_offload_init(struct flow_cls_common_offload *cls_common,
 		cls_common->extack = extack;
 }
 
+#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_NET_TC_SKB_EXT)
+static inline struct tc_skb_ext *tc_skb_ext_alloc(struct sk_buff *skb)
+{
+	struct tc_skb_ext *tc_skb_ext = skb_ext_add(skb, TC_SKB_EXT);
+
+	if (tc_skb_ext)
+		memset(tc_skb_ext, 0, sizeof(*tc_skb_ext));
+	return tc_skb_ext;
+}
+#endif
+
 enum tc_matchall_command {
 	TC_CLSMATCHALL_REPLACE,
 	TC_CLSMATCHALL_DESTROY,
diff --git a/net/sched/cls_api.c b/net/sched/cls_api.c
index 9383dc29ead5d..a281da07bb1d2 100644
--- a/net/sched/cls_api.c
+++ b/net/sched/cls_api.c
@@ -1625,7 +1625,7 @@ int tcf_classify_ingress(struct sk_buff *skb,
 
 	/* If we missed on some chain */
 	if (ret == TC_ACT_UNSPEC && last_executed_chain) {
-		ext = skb_ext_add(skb, TC_SKB_EXT);
+		ext = tc_skb_ext_alloc(skb);
 		if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!ext))
 			return TC_ACT_SHOT;
 		ext->chain = last_executed_chain;