diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/core.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/core.c
index 417dfa18daae..4e503b3d0d2d 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/core.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/core.c
@@ -3144,7 +3144,7 @@ static int emac_probe(struct platform_device *ofdev)
 
 	netif_carrier_off(ndev);
 
-	err = devm_register_netdev(&ofdev->dev, ndev);
+	err = register_netdev(ndev);
 	if (err) {
 		printk(KERN_ERR "%pOF: failed to register net device (%d)!\n",
 		       np, err);
@@ -3197,6 +3197,13 @@ static void emac_remove(struct platform_device *ofdev)
 
 	DBG(dev, "remove" NL);
 
+	/* Unregister network device before tearing down hardware
+	 * to prevent use-after-free during deferred cleanup. This ensures
+	 * the network stack stops all operations before hardware resources
+	 * are released.
+	 */
+	unregister_netdev(dev->ndev);
+
 	cancel_work_sync(&dev->reset_work);
 
 	if (emac_has_feature(dev, EMAC_FTR_HAS_TAH))