diff --git a/drivers/dma-buf/sync_file.c b/drivers/dma-buf/sync_file.c
index abb5fdab75fdb0ec77478a48d32021232bcf56b8..0fe7ec2657fd1cb817795607db029192b2673ae2 100644
--- a/drivers/dma-buf/sync_file.c
+++ b/drivers/dma-buf/sync_file.c
@@ -253,10 +253,8 @@ static struct sync_file *sync_file_merge(const char *name, struct sync_file *a,
 	for (; i_b < b_num_fences; i_b++)
 		add_fence(fences, &i, b_fences[i_b]);
 
-	if (i == 0) {
-		add_fence(fences, &i, a_fences[0]);
-		i++;
-	}
+	if (i == 0)
+		fences[i++] = fence_get(a_fences[0]);
 
 	if (num_fences > i) {
 		nfences = krealloc(fences, i * sizeof(*fences),