diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
index 714286dab6bb5c08b8a617dc3e35d3d0d2d8cb5c..8f3b79b03a814999bd48f9a201170c89940e4fb8 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
@@ -950,6 +950,7 @@ static void virtio_9p_pci_instance_init(Object *obj)
     object_initialize(&dev->vdev, sizeof(dev->vdev), TYPE_VIRTIO_9P);
     object_property_add_child(obj, "virtio-backend", OBJECT(&dev->vdev), NULL);
     qdev_alias_all_properties(DEVICE(&dev->vdev), obj);
+    object_unref(OBJECT(&dev->vdev));
 }
 
 static const TypeInfo virtio_9p_pci_info = {