diff --git a/drivers/crypto/qat/qat_common/adf_aer.c b/drivers/crypto/qat/qat_common/adf_aer.c
index b3138f8fc3f3..040595a6ab75 100644
--- a/drivers/crypto/qat/qat_common/adf_aer.c
+++ b/drivers/crypto/qat/qat_common/adf_aer.c
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ static void adf_device_reset_worker(struct work_struct *work)
 	if (adf_dev_init(accel_dev) || adf_dev_start(accel_dev)) {
 		/* The device hanged and we can't restart it so stop here */
 		dev_err(&GET_DEV(accel_dev), "Restart device failed\n");
-		if (reset_data->mode == ADF_DEV_RESET_ASYNC)
+		if (reset_data->mode == ADF_DEV_RESET_ASYNC ||
+		    completion_done(&reset_data->compl))
 			kfree(reset_data);
 		WARN(1, "QAT: device restart failed. Device is unusable\n");
 		return;
@@ -103,11 +104,19 @@ static void adf_device_reset_worker(struct work_struct *work)
 	adf_dev_restarted_notify(accel_dev);
 	clear_bit(ADF_STATUS_RESTARTING, &accel_dev->status);
 
-	/* The dev is back alive. Notify the caller if in sync mode */
-	if (reset_data->mode == ADF_DEV_RESET_SYNC)
-		complete(&reset_data->compl);
-	else
+	/*
+	 * The dev is back alive. Notify the caller if in sync mode
+	 *
+	 * If device restart will take a more time than expected,
+	 * the schedule_reset() function can timeout and exit. This can be
+	 * detected by calling the completion_done() function. In this case
+	 * the reset_data structure needs to be freed here.
+	 */
+	if (reset_data->mode == ADF_DEV_RESET_ASYNC ||
+	    completion_done(&reset_data->compl))
 		kfree(reset_data);
+	else
+		complete(&reset_data->compl);
 }
 
 static int adf_dev_aer_schedule_reset(struct adf_accel_dev *accel_dev,
@@ -140,8 +149,9 @@ static int adf_dev_aer_schedule_reset(struct adf_accel_dev *accel_dev,
 			dev_err(&GET_DEV(accel_dev),
 				"Reset device timeout expired\n");
 			ret = -EFAULT;
+		} else {
+			kfree(reset_data);
 		}
-		kfree(reset_data);
 		return ret;
 	}
 	return 0;