diff --git a/drivers/acpi/acpica/utcopy.c b/drivers/acpi/acpica/utcopy.c
index 95e55f5bbabe..270c16464dd9 100644
--- a/drivers/acpi/acpica/utcopy.c
+++ b/drivers/acpi/acpica/utcopy.c
@@ -535,10 +535,10 @@ acpi_ut_copy_esimple_to_isimple(union acpi_object *external_object,
 
 	case ACPI_TYPE_LOCAL_REFERENCE:
 
-		/* TBD: should validate incoming handle */
+		/* An incoming reference is defined to be a namespace node */
 
-		internal_object->reference.class = ACPI_REFCLASS_NAME;
-		internal_object->reference.node =
+		internal_object->reference.class = ACPI_REFCLASS_REFOF;
+		internal_object->reference.object =
 		    external_object->reference.handle;
 		break;