diff --git a/net/bluetooth/hci_core.c b/net/bluetooth/hci_core.c
index b2559d4bed815d60fcb30b1984f0fa031a7c46b2..0cc9ce9172229ff9296194f0a0af942dff79d940 100644
--- a/net/bluetooth/hci_core.c
+++ b/net/bluetooth/hci_core.c
@@ -4440,7 +4440,14 @@ static void hci_rx_work(struct work_struct *work)
 			hci_send_to_sock(hdev, skb);
 		}
 
-		if (hci_dev_test_flag(hdev, HCI_USER_CHANNEL)) {
+		/* If the device has been opened in HCI_USER_CHANNEL,
+		 * the userspace has exclusive access to device.
+		 * When device is HCI_INIT, we still need to process
+		 * the data packets to the driver in order
+		 * to complete its setup().
+		 */
+		if (hci_dev_test_flag(hdev, HCI_USER_CHANNEL) &&
+		    !test_bit(HCI_INIT, &hdev->flags)) {
 			kfree_skb(skb);
 			continue;
 		}