diff --git a/drivers/rpmsg/rpmsg_core.c b/drivers/rpmsg/rpmsg_core.c
index af1a50a799aa..1389a32fdea3 100644
--- a/drivers/rpmsg/rpmsg_core.c
+++ b/drivers/rpmsg/rpmsg_core.c
@@ -499,6 +499,7 @@ int rpmsg_register_device_override(struct rpmsg_device *rpdev,
 					  strlen(driver_override));
 		if (ret) {
 			dev_err(dev, "device_set_override failed: %d\n", ret);
+			put_device(dev);
 			return ret;
 		}
 	}