diff --git a/src/platform/wifi/wifi-utils-wext.c b/src/platform/wifi/wifi-utils-wext.c
index 398f3c558f..af8cf2dee6 100644
--- a/src/platform/wifi/wifi-utils-wext.c
+++ b/src/platform/wifi/wifi-utils-wext.c
@@ -662,8 +662,15 @@ wifi_wext_is_wifi (const char *iface)
 	struct iwreq iwr;
 	gboolean is_wifi = FALSE;
 
-	if (!nmp_utils_device_exists (iface))
-		return FALSE;
+	/* performing an ioctl on a non-existing name may cause the automatic
+	 * loading of kernel modules, which should be avoided.
+	 *
+	 * Usually, we should thus make sure that an inteface with this name
+	 * exists.
+	 *
+	 * Note that wifi_wext_is_wifi() has only one caller which just verified
+	 * that an interface with this name exists.
+	 */
 
 	fd = socket (PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM | SOCK_CLOEXEC, 0);
 	if (fd >= 0) {