diff --git a/drivers/iio/industrialio-core.c b/drivers/iio/industrialio-core.c
index a85b66081faee97e2a4035675b0fa1b9b3b6a704..39fb8cc46373c38caae2711baf24a44e0fd704de 100644
--- a/drivers/iio/industrialio-core.c
+++ b/drivers/iio/industrialio-core.c
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ int __iio_device_attr_init(struct device_attribute *dev_attr,
 								    ->channel2],
 						 postfix);
 	} else {
-		if (chan->extend_name == NULL)
+		if (chan->extend_name == NULL || shared_by != IIO_SEPARATE)
 			full_postfix = kstrdup(postfix, GFP_KERNEL);
 		else
 			full_postfix = kasprintf(GFP_KERNEL,