diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 2920fd0048657e2869f25af0f368b710d5837c44..58f531f8dcc2e6d2f6e8fd7b79bbcb2d06c50f60 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -3280,9 +3280,9 @@ level_store(struct mddev *mddev, const char *buf, size_t len)
 {
 	char clevel[16];
 	ssize_t rv = len;
-	struct md_personality *pers;
+	struct md_personality *pers, *oldpers;
 	long level;
-	void *priv;
+	void *priv, *oldpriv;
 	struct md_rdev *rdev;
 
 	if (mddev->pers == NULL) {
@@ -3374,9 +3374,35 @@ level_store(struct mddev *mddev, const char *buf, size_t len)
 	/* Looks like we have a winner */
 	mddev_suspend(mddev);
 	mddev_detach(mddev);
-	mddev->pers->free(mddev, mddev->private);
+	oldpers = mddev->pers;
+	oldpriv = mddev->private;
+	mddev->pers = pers;
+	mddev->private = priv;
+	strlcpy(mddev->clevel, pers->name, sizeof(mddev->clevel));
+	mddev->level = mddev->new_level;
+	mddev->layout = mddev->new_layout;
+	mddev->chunk_sectors = mddev->new_chunk_sectors;
+	mddev->delta_disks = 0;
+	mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
+	mddev->degraded = 0;
+
+	if (oldpers->sync_request == NULL &&
+	    mddev->external) {
+		/* We are converting from a no-redundancy array
+		 * to a redundancy array and metadata is managed
+		 * externally so we need to be sure that writes
+		 * won't block due to a need to transition
+		 *      clean->dirty
+		 * until external management is started.
+		 */
+		mddev->in_sync = 0;
+		mddev->safemode_delay = 0;
+		mddev->safemode = 0;
+	}
 
-	if (mddev->pers->sync_request == NULL &&
+	oldpers->free(mddev, oldpriv);
+
+	if (oldpers->sync_request == NULL &&
 	    pers->sync_request != NULL) {
 		/* need to add the md_redundancy_group */
 		if (sysfs_create_group(&mddev->kobj, &md_redundancy_group))
@@ -3385,27 +3411,13 @@ level_store(struct mddev *mddev, const char *buf, size_t len)
 			       mdname(mddev));
 		mddev->sysfs_action = sysfs_get_dirent(mddev->kobj.sd, "sync_action");
 	}
-	if (mddev->pers->sync_request != NULL &&
+	if (oldpers->sync_request != NULL &&
 	    pers->sync_request == NULL) {
 		/* need to remove the md_redundancy_group */
 		if (mddev->to_remove == NULL)
 			mddev->to_remove = &md_redundancy_group;
 	}
 
-	if (mddev->pers->sync_request == NULL &&
-	    mddev->external) {
-		/* We are converting from a no-redundancy array
-		 * to a redundancy array and metadata is managed
-		 * externally so we need to be sure that writes
-		 * won't block due to a need to transition
-		 *      clean->dirty
-		 * until external management is started.
-		 */
-		mddev->in_sync = 0;
-		mddev->safemode_delay = 0;
-		mddev->safemode = 0;
-	}
-
 	rdev_for_each(rdev, mddev) {
 		if (rdev->raid_disk < 0)
 			continue;
@@ -3431,17 +3443,7 @@ level_store(struct mddev *mddev, const char *buf, size_t len)
 		}
 	}
 
-	module_put(mddev->pers->owner);
-	mddev->pers = pers;
-	mddev->private = priv;
-	strlcpy(mddev->clevel, pers->name, sizeof(mddev->clevel));
-	mddev->level = mddev->new_level;
-	mddev->layout = mddev->new_layout;
-	mddev->chunk_sectors = mddev->new_chunk_sectors;
-	mddev->delta_disks = 0;
-	mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
-	mddev->degraded = 0;
-	if (mddev->pers->sync_request == NULL) {
+	if (pers->sync_request == NULL) {
 		/* this is now an array without redundancy, so
 		 * it must always be in_sync
 		 */