diff --git a/neutron/privileged/agent/linux/ip_lib.py b/neutron/privileged/agent/linux/ip_lib.py
index 0072707e461..546655ab2dd 100644
--- a/neutron/privileged/agent/linux/ip_lib.py
+++ b/neutron/privileged/agent/linux/ip_lib.py
@@ -527,7 +527,7 @@ def make_serializable(value):
     if isinstance(value, list):
         return [make_serializable(item) for item in value]
     elif isinstance(value, netlink.nla_slot):
-        return [value[0], make_serializable(value[1])]
+        return [_ensure_string(value[0]), make_serializable(value[1])]
     elif isinstance(value, netlink.nla_base) and six.PY3:
         return make_serializable(value.dump())
     elif isinstance(value, dict):
diff --git a/neutron/tests/unit/privileged/agent/linux/test_ip_lib.py b/neutron/tests/unit/privileged/agent/linux/test_ip_lib.py
index 2efb168051c..27d65696a80 100644
--- a/neutron/tests/unit/privileged/agent/linux/test_ip_lib.py
+++ b/neutron/tests/unit/privileged/agent/linux/test_ip_lib.py
@@ -216,13 +216,16 @@ class IpLibTestCase(base.BaseTestCase):
 
 class MakeSerializableTestCase(base.BaseTestCase):
 
-    NLA_DATA = ifinfmsg.ifinfbase.state(data=b'54321')
+    NLA_DATA1 = ifinfmsg.ifinfbase.state(data=b'54321')
+    NLA_DATA2 = ifinfmsg.ifinfbase.state(data=b'abcdef')
     INPUT_1 = {'key1': 'value1', b'key2': b'value2', 'key3': ('a', 2),
                'key4': [1, 2, 'c'],
-               'key5': netlink.nla_slot('nla_name', NLA_DATA)}
+               b'key5': netlink.nla_slot('nla_name1', NLA_DATA1),
+               'key6': netlink.nla_slot(b'nla_name2', NLA_DATA2)}
     OUTPUT_1 = {'key1': 'value1', 'key2': 'value2', 'key3': ('a', 2),
                 'key4': [1, 2, 'c'],
-                'key5': ['nla_name', '54321']}
+                'key5': ['nla_name1', '54321'],
+                'key6': ['nla_name2', 'abcdef']}
 
     def test_make_serializable(self):
         self.assertEqual(self.OUTPUT_1,