diff --git a/drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c b/drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c
index 392c1ac4f8193..44bd0b6ff5059 100644
--- a/drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c
+++ b/drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c
@@ -2027,8 +2027,10 @@ int vmbus_add_channel_kobj(struct hv_device *dev, struct vmbus_channel *channel)
 	kobj->kset = dev->channels_kset;
 	ret = kobject_init_and_add(kobj, &vmbus_chan_ktype, NULL,
 				   "%u", relid);
-	if (ret)
+	if (ret) {
+		kobject_put(kobj);
 		return ret;
+	}
 
 	ret = sysfs_create_group(kobj, &vmbus_chan_group);
 
@@ -2037,6 +2039,7 @@ int vmbus_add_channel_kobj(struct hv_device *dev, struct vmbus_channel *channel)
 		 * The calling functions' error handling paths will cleanup the
 		 * empty channel directory.
 		 */
+		kobject_put(kobj);
 		dev_err(device, "Unable to set up channel sysfs files\n");
 		return ret;
 	}