diff --git a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
index 2345e563c2f4..252b044cdcdf 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
@@ -1127,6 +1127,9 @@ struct rpc_task *rpc_run_task(const struct rpc_task_setup *task_setup_data)
 
 	task = rpc_new_task(task_setup_data);
 
+	if (!RPC_IS_ASYNC(task))
+		task->tk_flags |= RPC_TASK_CRED_NOREF;
+
 	rpc_task_set_client(task, task_setup_data->rpc_client);
 	rpc_task_set_rpc_message(task, task_setup_data->rpc_message);