diff --git a/drivers/media/dvb-core/dvb_frontend.c b/drivers/media/dvb-core/dvb_frontend.c
index 258637d762d64..70d07cdcb2a60 100644
--- a/drivers/media/dvb-core/dvb_frontend.c
+++ b/drivers/media/dvb-core/dvb_frontend.c
@@ -2985,6 +2985,7 @@ int dvb_register_frontend(struct dvb_adapter *dvb,
 		.name = fe->ops.info.name,
 #endif
 	};
+	int ret;
 
 	dev_dbg(dvb->device, "%s:\n", __func__);
 
@@ -3018,8 +3019,13 @@ int dvb_register_frontend(struct dvb_adapter *dvb,
 		 "DVB: registering adapter %i frontend %i (%s)...\n",
 		 fe->dvb->num, fe->id, fe->ops.info.name);
 
-	dvb_register_device(fe->dvb, &fepriv->dvbdev, &dvbdev_template,
+	ret = dvb_register_device(fe->dvb, &fepriv->dvbdev, &dvbdev_template,
 			    fe, DVB_DEVICE_FRONTEND, 0);
+	if (ret) {
+		dvb_frontend_put(fe);
+		mutex_unlock(&frontend_mutex);
+		return ret;
+	}
 
 	/*
 	 * Initialize the cache to the proper values according with the