diff --git a/lib/dma-debug.c b/lib/dma-debug.c
index 4a1515f4b452bd283d18ade33fe24d50ced6eff7..51a76af25c66355f3833965eb3c3edd8056d25e5 100644
--- a/lib/dma-debug.c
+++ b/lib/dma-debug.c
@@ -657,9 +657,9 @@ static struct dma_debug_entry *dma_entry_alloc(void)
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&free_entries_lock, flags);
 
 	if (list_empty(&free_entries)) {
-		pr_err("DMA-API: debugging out of memory - disabling\n");
 		global_disable = true;
 		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&free_entries_lock, flags);
+		pr_err("DMA-API: debugging out of memory - disabling\n");
 		return NULL;
 	}