diff --git a/net/openvswitch/datapath.c b/net/openvswitch/datapath.c
index 6fbd2decb19e..b816ff871528 100644
--- a/net/openvswitch/datapath.c
+++ b/net/openvswitch/datapath.c
@@ -952,7 +952,7 @@ static int ovs_flow_cmd_new(struct sk_buff *skb, struct genl_info *info)
 	if (error)
 		goto err_kfree_flow;
 
-	ovs_flow_mask_key(&new_flow->key, &key, &mask);
+	ovs_flow_mask_key(&new_flow->key, &key, true, &mask);
 
 	/* Extract flow identifier. */
 	error = ovs_nla_get_identifier(&new_flow->id, a[OVS_FLOW_ATTR_UFID],
@@ -1080,7 +1080,7 @@ static struct sw_flow_actions *get_flow_actions(struct net *net,
 	struct sw_flow_key masked_key;
 	int error;
 
-	ovs_flow_mask_key(&masked_key, key, mask);
+	ovs_flow_mask_key(&masked_key, key, true, mask);
 	error = ovs_nla_copy_actions(net, a, &masked_key, &acts, log);
 	if (error) {
 		OVS_NLERR(log,
diff --git a/net/openvswitch/flow_table.c b/net/openvswitch/flow_table.c
index d22d8e948d0f..f2ea83ba4763 100644
--- a/net/openvswitch/flow_table.c
+++ b/net/openvswitch/flow_table.c
@@ -57,20 +57,21 @@ static u16 range_n_bytes(const struct sw_flow_key_range *range)
 }
 
 void ovs_flow_mask_key(struct sw_flow_key *dst, const struct sw_flow_key *src,
-		       const struct sw_flow_mask *mask)
+		       bool full, const struct sw_flow_mask *mask)
 {
-	const long *m = (const long *)((const u8 *)&mask->key +
-				mask->range.start);
-	const long *s = (const long *)((const u8 *)src +
-				mask->range.start);
-	long *d = (long *)((u8 *)dst + mask->range.start);
+	int start = full ? 0 : mask->range.start;
+	int len = full ? sizeof *dst : range_n_bytes(&mask->range);
+	const long *m = (const long *)((const u8 *)&mask->key + start);
+	const long *s = (const long *)((const u8 *)src + start);
+	long *d = (long *)((u8 *)dst + start);
 	int i;
 
-	/* The memory outside of the 'mask->range' are not set since
-	 * further operations on 'dst' only uses contents within
-	 * 'mask->range'.
+	/* If 'full' is true then all of 'dst' is fully initialized. Otherwise,
+	 * if 'full' is false the memory outside of the 'mask->range' is left
+	 * uninitialized. This can be used as an optimization when further
+	 * operations on 'dst' only use contents within 'mask->range'.
 	 */
-	for (i = 0; i < range_n_bytes(&mask->range); i += sizeof(long))
+	for (i = 0; i < len; i += sizeof(long))
 		*d++ = *s++ & *m++;
 }
 
@@ -475,7 +476,7 @@ static struct sw_flow *masked_flow_lookup(struct table_instance *ti,
 	u32 hash;
 	struct sw_flow_key masked_key;
 
-	ovs_flow_mask_key(&masked_key, unmasked, mask);
+	ovs_flow_mask_key(&masked_key, unmasked, false, mask);
 	hash = flow_hash(&masked_key, &mask->range);
 	head = find_bucket(ti, hash);
 	hlist_for_each_entry_rcu(flow, head, flow_table.node[ti->node_ver]) {
diff --git a/net/openvswitch/flow_table.h b/net/openvswitch/flow_table.h
index 616eda10d955..2dd9900f533d 100644
--- a/net/openvswitch/flow_table.h
+++ b/net/openvswitch/flow_table.h
@@ -86,5 +86,5 @@ struct sw_flow *ovs_flow_tbl_lookup_ufid(struct flow_table *,
 bool ovs_flow_cmp(const struct sw_flow *, const struct sw_flow_match *);
 
 void ovs_flow_mask_key(struct sw_flow_key *dst, const struct sw_flow_key *src,
-		       const struct sw_flow_mask *mask);
+		       bool full, const struct sw_flow_mask *mask);
 #endif /* flow_table.h */