diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/mptcp/userspace_pm.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/net/mptcp/userspace_pm.sh
index 3200d0b96d53ce..b0cce8f065d82f 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/net/mptcp/userspace_pm.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/mptcp/userspace_pm.sh
@@ -149,17 +149,23 @@ ip -net "$ns2" addr add dead:beef:1::2/64 dev ns2eth1 nodad
 ip -net "$ns2" addr add dead:beef:2::2/64 dev ns2eth1 nodad
 ip -net "$ns2" link set ns2eth1 up
 
+file=$(mktemp)
+mptcp_lib_make_file "$file" 2 1
+
+# Capture netlink events over the two network namespaces running
+# the MPTCP client and server
+client_evts=$(mktemp)
+mptcp_lib_events "${ns2}" "${client_evts}" client_evts_pid
+server_evts=$(mktemp)
+mptcp_lib_events "${ns1}" "${server_evts}" server_evts_pid
+sleep 0.5
+
 print_title "Init"
 print_test "Created network namespaces ns1, ns2"
 test_pass
 
 make_connection()
 {
-	if [ -z "$file" ]; then
-		file=$(mktemp)
-	fi
-	mptcp_lib_make_file "$file" 2 1
-
 	local is_v6=$1
 	local app_port=$app4_port
 	local connect_addr="10.0.1.1"
@@ -173,17 +179,8 @@ make_connection()
 		is_v6="v4"
 	fi
 
-	# Capture netlink events over the two network namespaces running
-	# the MPTCP client and server
-	if [ -z "$client_evts" ]; then
-		client_evts=$(mktemp)
-	fi
-	mptcp_lib_events "${ns2}" "${client_evts}" client_evts_pid
-	if [ -z "$server_evts" ]; then
-		server_evts=$(mktemp)
-	fi
-	mptcp_lib_events "${ns1}" "${server_evts}" server_evts_pid
-	sleep 0.5
+	:>"$client_evts"
+	:>"$server_evts"
 
 	# Run the server
 	ip netns exec "$ns1" \