diff --git a/net/core/skbuff.c b/net/core/skbuff.c
index e2f37a560ec43ccf60a71f190423bd265eccf594..cd4ba8c6b6091651403cf74de8c60ccf69aa3e7b 100644
--- a/net/core/skbuff.c
+++ b/net/core/skbuff.c
@@ -3828,13 +3828,14 @@ void skb_complete_tx_timestamp(struct sk_buff *skb,
 	if (!skb_may_tx_timestamp(sk, false))
 		return;
 
-	/* take a reference to prevent skb_orphan() from freeing the socket */
-	sock_hold(sk);
-
-	*skb_hwtstamps(skb) = *hwtstamps;
-	__skb_complete_tx_timestamp(skb, sk, SCM_TSTAMP_SND);
-
-	sock_put(sk);
+	/* Take a reference to prevent skb_orphan() from freeing the socket,
+	 * but only if the socket refcount is not zero.
+	 */
+	if (likely(atomic_inc_not_zero(&sk->sk_refcnt))) {
+		*skb_hwtstamps(skb) = *hwtstamps;
+		__skb_complete_tx_timestamp(skb, sk, SCM_TSTAMP_SND);
+		sock_put(sk);
+	}
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(skb_complete_tx_timestamp);