diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/i2c/base.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/i2c/base.c
index a114a0ed7e98d13546a2d8672990985fd3f4c257..2e98e8a3f1aa33c8ccf9673334d7fd3e73dab708 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/i2c/base.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/i2c/base.c
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ nouveau_i2c_port_create_(struct nouveau_object *parent,
 	/* drop port's i2c subdev refcount, i2c handles this itself */
 	if (ret == 0) {
 		list_add_tail(&port->head, &i2c->ports);
+		atomic_dec(&parent->refcount);
 		atomic_dec(&engine->refcount);
 	}