diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/nictagadm-etherstub-nonetype-bugfix.yml b/changelogs/fragments/nictagadm-etherstub-nonetype-bugfix.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..717bb7654b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/nictagadm-etherstub-nonetype-bugfix.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - nictagadm - add a condition to the if statement so that ``is_valid_mac()`` does not get called if ``etherstub`` is false
+    (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/11589).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/nictagadm.py b/plugins/modules/nictagadm.py
index 772a1d81ef..59cc3427d5 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/nictagadm.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/nictagadm.py
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ def main():
         state=nictag.state,
     )
 
-    if not nictag.is_valid_mac():
+    if not nictag.etherstub and not nictag.is_valid_mac():
         module.fail_json(msg="Invalid MAC Address Value", name=nictag.name, mac=nictag.mac, etherstub=nictag.etherstub)
 
     if nictag.state == "absent":