diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_64_mmu_hv.c b/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_64_mmu_hv.c
index 9a75f0e1933b52d66af408f4892b18959a154e22..68678e31c84ca3f2d3dd4c8ec190e36292ddad87 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_64_mmu_hv.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_64_mmu_hv.c
@@ -2000,7 +2000,7 @@ int kvm_vm_ioctl_get_htab_fd(struct kvm *kvm, struct kvm_get_htab_fd *ghf)
 	ret = anon_inode_getfd("kvm-htab", &kvm_htab_fops, ctx, rwflag | O_CLOEXEC);
 	if (ret < 0) {
 		kfree(ctx);
-		kvm_put_kvm(kvm);
+		kvm_put_kvm_no_destroy(kvm);
 		return ret;
 	}
 
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_64_vio.c b/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_64_vio.c
index 5834db0a54c66aa3dcaddfc86e8f6a6dd60a8703..883a66e76638a78dc154423455afe1efe36ae15e 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_64_vio.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_64_vio.c
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ long kvm_vm_ioctl_create_spapr_tce(struct kvm *kvm,
 	if (ret >= 0)
 		list_add_rcu(&stt->list, &kvm->arch.spapr_tce_tables);
 	else
-		kvm_put_kvm(kvm);
+		kvm_put_kvm_no_destroy(kvm);
 
 	mutex_unlock(&kvm->lock);
 
diff --git a/include/linux/kvm_host.h b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
index d2017302996c4a641ffca626ae75805770b6f6e9..a817e446c9aa0e9e4a8ed1199b49f57e4873e1c2 100644
--- a/include/linux/kvm_host.h
+++ b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
@@ -621,6 +621,7 @@ void kvm_exit(void);
 
 void kvm_get_kvm(struct kvm *kvm);
 void kvm_put_kvm(struct kvm *kvm);
+void kvm_put_kvm_no_destroy(struct kvm *kvm);
 
 static inline struct kvm_memslots *__kvm_memslots(struct kvm *kvm, int as_id)
 {
diff --git a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
index 67ef3f2e19e861c5b71ee672f59fd87d35580cef..b8534c6b8cf6053d0c6024da07fd0f98cfbefa49 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
@@ -772,6 +772,18 @@ void kvm_put_kvm(struct kvm *kvm)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(kvm_put_kvm);
 
+/*
+ * Used to put a reference that was taken on behalf of an object associated
+ * with a user-visible file descriptor, e.g. a vcpu or device, if installation
+ * of the new file descriptor fails and the reference cannot be transferred to
+ * its final owner.  In such cases, the caller is still actively using @kvm and
+ * will fail miserably if the refcount unexpectedly hits zero.
+ */
+void kvm_put_kvm_no_destroy(struct kvm *kvm)
+{
+	WARN_ON(refcount_dec_and_test(&kvm->users_count));
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(kvm_put_kvm_no_destroy);
 
 static int kvm_vm_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
 {
@@ -2679,7 +2691,7 @@ static int kvm_vm_ioctl_create_vcpu(struct kvm *kvm, u32 id)
 	kvm_get_kvm(kvm);
 	r = create_vcpu_fd(vcpu);
 	if (r < 0) {
-		kvm_put_kvm(kvm);
+		kvm_put_kvm_no_destroy(kvm);
 		goto unlock_vcpu_destroy;
 	}
 
@@ -3117,7 +3129,7 @@ static int kvm_ioctl_create_device(struct kvm *kvm,
 	kvm_get_kvm(kvm);
 	ret = anon_inode_getfd(ops->name, &kvm_device_fops, dev, O_RDWR | O_CLOEXEC);
 	if (ret < 0) {
-		kvm_put_kvm(kvm);
+		kvm_put_kvm_no_destroy(kvm);
 		mutex_lock(&kvm->lock);
 		list_del(&dev->vm_node);
 		mutex_unlock(&kvm->lock);