diff --git a/net/netfilter/nfnetlink_log.c b/net/netfilter/nfnetlink_log.c
index 62c3f31cdb97..27b844a67ec1 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nfnetlink_log.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nfnetlink_log.c
@@ -393,8 +393,8 @@ static void nfulnl_timer(unsigned long data)
 
 	spin_lock_bh(&inst->lock);
 	__nfulnl_send(inst);
-	instance_put(inst);
 	spin_unlock_bh(&inst->lock);
+	instance_put(inst);
 }
 
 /* This is an inline function, we don't really care about a long