diff --git a/mt76.h b/mt76.h
index f4dc4a66..6301f1af 100644
--- a/mt76.h
+++ b/mt76.h
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 #define MT_TX_RING_SIZE     256
 #define MT_MCU_RING_SIZE    32
 #define MT_RX_BUF_SIZE      2048
-#define MT_SKB_HEAD_LEN     128
 
 struct mt76_dev;
 struct mt76_wcid;
diff --git a/usb.c b/usb.c
index 2bfc8214..bbaa1365 100644
--- a/usb.c
+++ b/usb.c
@@ -429,48 +429,6 @@ static int mt76u_get_rx_entry_len(u8 *data, u32 data_len)
 	return dma_len;
 }
 
-static struct sk_buff *
-mt76u_build_rx_skb(u8 *data, int len, int buf_size,
-		   int *nsgs)
-{
-	int data_len = min(len, MT_SKB_HEAD_LEN);
-	struct sk_buff *skb;
-
-	if (SKB_WITH_OVERHEAD(buf_size) >= MT_DMA_HDR_LEN + len) {
-		/* fast path */
-		skb = build_skb(data, buf_size);
-		if (!skb)
-			return NULL;
-
-		skb_reserve(skb, MT_DMA_HDR_LEN);
-		__skb_put(skb, len);
-
-		return skb;
-	}
-
-	/* slow path, not enough space for data and
-	 * skb_shared_info
-	 */
-	skb = alloc_skb(data_len, GFP_ATOMIC);
-	if (!skb)
-		return NULL;
-
-	skb_put_data(skb, data + MT_DMA_HDR_LEN, data_len);
-	data += (data_len + MT_DMA_HDR_LEN);
-	len -= data_len;
-	if (len > 0) {
-		struct page *page = virt_to_head_page(data);
-		int offset = data - (u8 *)page_address(page);
-
-		skb_add_rx_frag(skb, skb_shinfo(skb)->nr_frags,
-				page, offset, len, buf_size);
-	} else {
-		*nsgs = 0;
-	}
-
-	return skb;
-}
-
 static int
 mt76u_process_rx_entry(struct mt76_dev *dev, struct urb *urb)
 {
@@ -488,11 +446,19 @@ mt76u_process_rx_entry(struct mt76_dev *dev, struct urb *urb)
 		return 0;
 
 	data_len = min_t(int, len, data_len - MT_DMA_HDR_LEN);
-	skb = mt76u_build_rx_skb(data, data_len, q->buf_size, &nsgs);
+	if (MT_DMA_HDR_LEN + data_len > SKB_WITH_OVERHEAD(q->buf_size)) {
+		dev_err_ratelimited(dev->dev, "rx data too big %d\n", data_len);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	skb = build_skb(data, q->buf_size);
 	if (!skb)
 		return 0;
 
+	skb_reserve(skb, MT_DMA_HDR_LEN);
+	__skb_put(skb, data_len);
 	len -= data_len;
+
 	while (len > 0 && nsgs < urb->num_sgs) {
 		data_len = min_t(int, len, urb->sg[nsgs].length);
 		skb_add_rx_frag(skb, skb_shinfo(skb)->nr_frags,