diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 0dcfdce632b15a2cd3f3eaaf1ff32c755a4561e1..60ad8dbd79e15a18ad5faabb6857e1dfd25808fc 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ our $Sparse	= qr{
 			__iomem|
 			__must_check|
 			__init_refok|
-			__kprobes
+			__kprobes|
+			__ref
 		}x;
 our $Attribute	= qr{
 			const|