diff --git a/drivers/lightnvm/core.c b/drivers/lightnvm/core.c
index 4f4db991c4a6dd3443284628d01f880150b1aed5..b2cd3d6f2a31e0b5eae7eaf51e433d57a297a559 100644
--- a/drivers/lightnvm/core.c
+++ b/drivers/lightnvm/core.c
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ static int nvm_create_tgt(struct nvm_dev *dev, struct nvm_ioctl_create *create)
 err_queue:
 	blk_cleanup_queue(tqueue);
 err_dev:
-	kfree(tgt_dev);
+	nvm_remove_tgt_dev(tgt_dev);
 err_t:
 	kfree(t);
 err_reserve: