diff --git a/drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c b/drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c
index 2457c54b6185..6d063eeaa08a 100644
--- a/drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c
+++ b/drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c
@@ -970,6 +970,10 @@ static void remove_common(struct virtio_balloon *vb)
 		leak_balloon(vb, vb->num_pages);
 	update_balloon_size(vb);
 
+	/* There might be free pages that are being reported: release them. */
+	if (virtio_has_feature(vb->vdev, VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_FREE_PAGE_HINT))
+		return_free_pages_to_mm(vb, ULONG_MAX);
+
 	/* Now we reset the device so we can clean up the queues. */
 	vb->vdev->config->reset(vb->vdev);