diff --git a/lib/kobject.c b/lib/kobject.c
index 1015f74212d0..493e991abb1b 100644
--- a/lib/kobject.c
+++ b/lib/kobject.c
@@ -149,12 +149,16 @@ void kobject_init(struct kobject * kobj)
 
 static void unlink(struct kobject * kobj)
 {
+	struct kobject *parent = kobj->parent;
+
 	if (kobj->kset) {
 		spin_lock(&kobj->kset->list_lock);
 		list_del_init(&kobj->entry);
 		spin_unlock(&kobj->kset->list_lock);
 	}
+	kobj->parent = NULL;
 	kobject_put(kobj);
+	kobject_put(parent);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -208,7 +212,6 @@ int kobject_add(struct kobject * kobj)
 	if (error) {
 		/* unlink does the kobject_put() for us */
 		unlink(kobj);
-		kobject_put(parent);
 
 		/* be noisy on error issues */
 		if (error == -EEXIST)
@@ -590,7 +593,6 @@ static void kobject_cleanup(struct kobject *kobj)
 {
 	struct kobj_type * t = get_ktype(kobj);
 	struct kset * s = kobj->kset;
-	struct kobject * parent = kobj->parent;
 	const char *name = kobj->k_name;
 
 	pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): %s\n",
@@ -604,7 +606,6 @@ static void kobject_cleanup(struct kobject *kobj)
 	}
 	if (s)
 		kset_put(s);
-	kobject_put(parent);
 }
 
 static void kobject_release(struct kref *kref)