diff --git a/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c b/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c
index dfafeb2b05a0e2ddc5481b2b2a4f445ec8086a0e..eb7cc91b7258870f89b77a60de4172dd6f1502b6 100644
--- a/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c
+++ b/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c
@@ -462,9 +462,6 @@ static struct dentry *proc_sys_lookup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry,
 
 	err = ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 	inode = proc_sys_make_inode(dir->i_sb, h ? h : head, p);
-	if (h)
-		sysctl_head_finish(h);
-
 	if (!inode)
 		goto out;
 
@@ -473,6 +470,8 @@ static struct dentry *proc_sys_lookup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry,
 	d_add(dentry, inode);
 
 out:
+	if (h)
+		sysctl_head_finish(h);
 	sysctl_head_finish(head);
 	return err;
 }