diff --git a/kernel/sched/ext.c b/kernel/sched/ext.c
index 2ff7034841c7..eac437cd2247 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/ext.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/ext.c
@@ -3450,7 +3450,6 @@ static int scx_cgroup_init(struct scx_sched *sch)
 		ret = SCX_CALL_OP_RET(sch, SCX_KF_UNLOCKED, cgroup_init, NULL,
 				      css->cgroup, &args);
 		if (ret) {
-			css_put(css);
 			scx_error(sch, "ops.cgroup_init() failed (%d)", ret);
 			return ret;
 		}