diff --git a/drivers/hwtracing/stm/policy.c b/drivers/hwtracing/stm/policy.c
index 0910ec807187..4b9e44b227d8 100644
--- a/drivers/hwtracing/stm/policy.c
+++ b/drivers/hwtracing/stm/policy.c
@@ -440,10 +440,8 @@ stp_policy_make(struct config_group *group, const char *name)
 
 	stm->policy = kzalloc(sizeof(*stm->policy), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!stm->policy) {
-		mutex_unlock(&stm->policy_mutex);
-		stm_put_protocol(pdrv);
-		stm_put_device(stm);
-		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+		ret = ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+		goto unlock_policy;
 	}
 
 	config_group_init_type_name(&stm->policy->group, name,
@@ -458,7 +456,11 @@ unlock_policy:
 	mutex_unlock(&stm->policy_mutex);
 
 	if (IS_ERR(ret)) {
-		stm_put_protocol(stm->pdrv);
+		/*
+		 * pdrv and stm->pdrv at this point can be quite different,
+		 * and only one of them needs to be 'put'
+		 */
+		stm_put_protocol(pdrv);
 		stm_put_device(stm);
 	}