diff --git a/net/can/j1939/transport.c b/net/can/j1939/transport.c
index 2830a12a4dd1b4e39fea70838d0d3f9e8af9e66a..78f6a91106994fbb77fdbd76259d79c799f177bd 100644
--- a/net/can/j1939/transport.c
+++ b/net/can/j1939/transport.c
@@ -338,10 +338,12 @@ static void j1939_session_skb_drop_old(struct j1939_session *session)
 		__skb_unlink(do_skb, &session->skb_queue);
 		/* drop ref taken in j1939_session_skb_queue() */
 		skb_unref(do_skb);
+		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&session->skb_queue.lock, flags);
 
 		kfree_skb(do_skb);
+	} else {
+		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&session->skb_queue.lock, flags);
 	}
-	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&session->skb_queue.lock, flags);
 }
 
 void j1939_session_skb_queue(struct j1939_session *session,