diff --git a/drivers/base/core.c b/drivers/base/core.c
index 3f463a61f8cf..fc5bbb2519fe 100644
--- a/drivers/base/core.c
+++ b/drivers/base/core.c
@@ -1571,6 +1571,8 @@ static void cleanup_glue_dir(struct device *dev, struct kobject *glue_dir)
 		return;
 
 	mutex_lock(&gdp_mutex);
+	if (!kobject_has_children(glue_dir))
+		kobject_del(glue_dir);
 	kobject_put(glue_dir);
 	mutex_unlock(&gdp_mutex);
 }
diff --git a/include/linux/kobject.h b/include/linux/kobject.h
index e0a6205caa71..e232df1d9db2 100644
--- a/include/linux/kobject.h
+++ b/include/linux/kobject.h
@@ -117,6 +117,23 @@ extern void kobject_put(struct kobject *kobj);
 extern const void *kobject_namespace(struct kobject *kobj);
 extern char *kobject_get_path(struct kobject *kobj, gfp_t flag);
 
+/**
+ * kobject_has_children - Returns whether a kobject has children.
+ * @kobj: the object to test
+ *
+ * This will return whether a kobject has other kobjects as children.
+ *
+ * It does NOT account for the presence of attribute files, only sub
+ * directories. It also assumes there is no concurrent addition or
+ * removal of such children, and thus relies on external locking.
+ */
+static inline bool kobject_has_children(struct kobject *kobj)
+{
+	WARN_ON_ONCE(kref_read(&kobj->kref) == 0);
+
+	return kobj->sd && kobj->sd->dir.subdirs;
+}
+
 struct kobj_type {
 	void (*release)(struct kobject *kobj);
 	const struct sysfs_ops *sysfs_ops;