diff --git a/drivers/staging/iio/Documentation/iio_utils.h b/drivers/staging/iio/Documentation/iio_utils.h
index 3cf01a532b555ecb8171dc3e2863f58ff0f54bdf..4b023aa141984153d143018a76b767de0dcc6267 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/iio/Documentation/iio_utils.h
+++ b/drivers/staging/iio/Documentation/iio_utils.h
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ inline int build_channel_array(const char *device_dir,
 		}
 	}
 	/* reorder so that the array is in index order*/
-	current = malloc(sizeof(**ci_array)**counter);
+	current = malloc(sizeof(**ci_array)*(*counter));
 	if (current == NULL) {
 		ret = -ENOMEM;
 		goto error_cleanup_array;