diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/util.py b/plugins/module_utils/util.py
index 140eeca4..ed54bfc8 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/util.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/util.py
@@ -464,4 +464,4 @@ def normalize_ip_network(network):
             return network
     # If we don't have ipaddress, simply give up...
     # This mainly affects Python 2.7.
-    return ip_address
+    return network