diff --git a/include/linux/pid_namespace.h b/include/linux/pid_namespace.h
index 00474b047145ed1f54f3003fe597873a4665cc48..65e3e87eacc59aab1d95a8bd1a14a2e61f29c1f3 100644
--- a/include/linux/pid_namespace.h
+++ b/include/linux/pid_namespace.h
@@ -47,15 +47,9 @@ static inline struct pid_namespace *get_pid_ns(struct pid_namespace *ns)
 }
 
 extern struct pid_namespace *copy_pid_ns(unsigned long flags, struct pid_namespace *ns);
-extern void free_pid_ns(struct kref *kref);
 extern void zap_pid_ns_processes(struct pid_namespace *pid_ns);
 extern int reboot_pid_ns(struct pid_namespace *pid_ns, int cmd);
-
-static inline void put_pid_ns(struct pid_namespace *ns)
-{
-	if (ns != &init_pid_ns)
-		kref_put(&ns->kref, free_pid_ns);
-}
+extern void put_pid_ns(struct pid_namespace *ns);
 
 #else /* !CONFIG_PID_NS */
 #include <linux/err.h>
diff --git a/kernel/pid_namespace.c b/kernel/pid_namespace.c
index 478bad2745e3a8357fcc2f9a56059d167bf67e49..eb00be205811959c708fe2bf5e3aee0547dcfa36 100644
--- a/kernel/pid_namespace.c
+++ b/kernel/pid_namespace.c
@@ -133,19 +133,26 @@ struct pid_namespace *copy_pid_ns(unsigned long flags, struct pid_namespace *old
 	return create_pid_namespace(old_ns);
 }
 
-void free_pid_ns(struct kref *kref)
+static void free_pid_ns(struct kref *kref)
 {
-	struct pid_namespace *ns, *parent;
+	struct pid_namespace *ns;
 
 	ns = container_of(kref, struct pid_namespace, kref);
-
-	parent = ns->parent;
 	destroy_pid_namespace(ns);
+}
 
-	if (parent != NULL)
-		put_pid_ns(parent);
+void put_pid_ns(struct pid_namespace *ns)
+{
+	struct pid_namespace *parent;
+
+	while (ns != &init_pid_ns) {
+		parent = ns->parent;
+		if (!kref_put(&ns->kref, free_pid_ns))
+			break;
+		ns = parent;
+	}
 }
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(free_pid_ns);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(put_pid_ns);
 
 void zap_pid_ns_processes(struct pid_namespace *pid_ns)
 {