diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/core/uverbs_main.c b/drivers/infiniband/core/uverbs_main.c
index 5bbfd0ecb31a..6354c1c7576f 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/core/uverbs_main.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/core/uverbs_main.c
@@ -315,6 +315,7 @@ static void ib_uverbs_release_file(struct kref *ref)
 	if (atomic_dec_and_test(&file->device->refcount))
 		ib_uverbs_comp_dev(file->device);
 
+	kobject_put(&file->device->kobj);
 	kfree(file);
 }
 
@@ -784,7 +785,6 @@ static int ib_uverbs_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
 static int ib_uverbs_close(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
 {
 	struct ib_uverbs_file *file = filp->private_data;
-	struct ib_uverbs_device *dev = file->device;
 
 	ib_uverbs_cleanup_ucontext(file, file->ucontext);
 
@@ -792,7 +792,6 @@ static int ib_uverbs_close(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
 		kref_put(&file->async_file->ref, ib_uverbs_release_event_file);
 
 	kref_put(&file->ref, ib_uverbs_release_file);
-	kobject_put(&dev->kobj);
 
 	return 0;
 }