diff --git a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-acpi.c b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-acpi.c
index 8f3dbc97a0571e3de740677e680ec25ef4348775..8b0ff780919b1d0436f1f93c6567e36561803d02 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-acpi.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-acpi.c
@@ -394,9 +394,17 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(i2c_acpi_find_adapter_by_handle);
 static struct i2c_client *i2c_acpi_find_client_by_adev(struct acpi_device *adev)
 {
 	struct device *dev;
+	struct i2c_client *client;
 
 	dev = bus_find_device_by_acpi_dev(&i2c_bus_type, adev);
-	return dev ? i2c_verify_client(dev) : NULL;
+	if (!dev)
+		return NULL;
+
+	client = i2c_verify_client(dev);
+	if (!client)
+		put_device(dev);
+
+	return client;
 }
 
 static int i2c_acpi_notify(struct notifier_block *nb, unsigned long value,