diff --git a/fs/afs/write.c b/fs/afs/write.c
index f1450ea094068535802b4a409df2b7b0199974ea..6e13e96c3db0d3371e46afdaffd8ee8336832a57 100644
--- a/fs/afs/write.c
+++ b/fs/afs/write.c
@@ -154,12 +154,12 @@ int afs_write_begin(struct file *file, struct address_space *mapping,
 		kfree(candidate);
 		return -ENOMEM;
 	}
-	*pagep = page;
-	/* page won't leak in error case: it eventually gets cleaned off LRU */
 
 	if (!PageUptodate(page) && len != PAGE_SIZE) {
 		ret = afs_fill_page(vnode, key, pos & PAGE_MASK, PAGE_SIZE, page);
 		if (ret < 0) {
+			unlock_page(page);
+			put_page(page);
 			kfree(candidate);
 			_leave(" = %d [prep]", ret);
 			return ret;
@@ -167,6 +167,9 @@ int afs_write_begin(struct file *file, struct address_space *mapping,
 		SetPageUptodate(page);
 	}
 
+	/* page won't leak in error case: it eventually gets cleaned off LRU */
+	*pagep = page;
+
 try_again:
 	spin_lock(&vnode->writeback_lock);