diff --git a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-device.c b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-device.c
index e0ddb9a52bd1..7cca0de1b730 100644
--- a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-device.c
+++ b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-device.c
@@ -216,10 +216,18 @@ int v4l2_device_register_subdev(struct v4l2_device *v4l2_dev,
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(v4l2_device_register_subdev);
 
+static void v4l2_subdev_release(struct v4l2_subdev *sd)
+{
+	struct module *owner = !sd->owner_v4l2_dev ? sd->owner : NULL;
+
+	if (sd->internal_ops && sd->internal_ops->release)
+		sd->internal_ops->release(sd);
+	module_put(owner);
+}
+
 static void v4l2_device_release_subdev_node(struct video_device *vdev)
 {
-	struct v4l2_subdev *sd = video_get_drvdata(vdev);
-	sd->devnode = NULL;
+	v4l2_subdev_release(video_get_drvdata(vdev));
 	kfree(vdev);
 }
 
@@ -318,8 +326,9 @@ void v4l2_device_unregister_subdev(struct v4l2_subdev *sd)
 		media_device_unregister_entity(&sd->entity);
 	}
 #endif
-	video_unregister_device(sd->devnode);
-	if (!sd->owner_v4l2_dev)
-		module_put(sd->owner);
+	if (sd->devnode)
+		video_unregister_device(sd->devnode);
+	else
+		v4l2_subdev_release(sd);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(v4l2_device_unregister_subdev);
diff --git a/include/media/v4l2-subdev.h b/include/media/v4l2-subdev.h
index 349e1c18cf48..e807aa96ed3b 100644
--- a/include/media/v4l2-subdev.h
+++ b/include/media/v4l2-subdev.h
@@ -755,7 +755,17 @@ struct v4l2_subdev_ops {
  *
  * @open: called when the subdev device node is opened by an application.
  *
- * @close: called when the subdev device node is closed.
+ * @close: called when the subdev device node is closed. Please note that
+ *	it is possible for @close to be called after @unregistered!
+ *
+ * @release: called when the last user of the subdev device is gone. This
+ *	happens after the @unregistered callback and when the last open
+ *	filehandle to the v4l-subdevX device node was closed. If no device
+ *	node was created for this sub-device, then the @release callback
+ *	is called right after the @unregistered callback.
+ *	The @release callback is typically used to free the memory containing
+ *	the v4l2_subdev structure. It is almost certainly required for any
+ *	sub-device that sets the V4L2_SUBDEV_FL_HAS_DEVNODE flag.
  *
  * .. note::
  *	Never call this from drivers, only the v4l2 framework can call
@@ -766,6 +776,7 @@ struct v4l2_subdev_internal_ops {
 	void (*unregistered)(struct v4l2_subdev *sd);
 	int (*open)(struct v4l2_subdev *sd, struct v4l2_subdev_fh *fh);
 	int (*close)(struct v4l2_subdev *sd, struct v4l2_subdev_fh *fh);
+	void (*release)(struct v4l2_subdev *sd);
 };
 
 #define V4L2_SUBDEV_NAME_SIZE 32