diff --git a/include/net/failover.h b/include/net/failover.h
index bb15438f39c7..f2b42b4b9cd6 100644
--- a/include/net/failover.h
+++ b/include/net/failover.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ struct failover_ops {
 struct failover {
 	struct list_head list;
 	struct net_device __rcu *failover_dev;
+	netdevice_tracker	dev_tracker;
 	struct failover_ops __rcu *ops;
 };
 
diff --git a/net/core/failover.c b/net/core/failover.c
index b5cd3c727285..dcaa92a85ea2 100644
--- a/net/core/failover.c
+++ b/net/core/failover.c
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ struct failover *failover_register(struct net_device *dev,
 		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 
 	rcu_assign_pointer(failover->ops, ops);
-	dev_hold(dev);
+	dev_hold_track(dev, &failover->dev_tracker, GFP_KERNEL);
 	dev->priv_flags |= IFF_FAILOVER;
 	rcu_assign_pointer(failover->failover_dev, dev);
 
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ void failover_unregister(struct failover *failover)
 		    failover_dev->name);
 
 	failover_dev->priv_flags &= ~IFF_FAILOVER;
-	dev_put(failover_dev);
+	dev_put_track(failover_dev, &failover->dev_tracker);
 
 	spin_lock(&failover_lock);
 	list_del(&failover->list);