diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 08e0f8d672c3b712ee15e13d73f91c14e732f6c1..6cdd1b4faca69df171161392d4c4f5c72e6b8981 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -1419,10 +1419,11 @@ static int bind_rdev_to_array(mdk_rdev_t * rdev, mddev_t * mddev)
 	return err;
 }
 
-static void delayed_delete(struct work_struct *ws)
+static void md_delayed_delete(struct work_struct *ws)
 {
 	mdk_rdev_t *rdev = container_of(ws, mdk_rdev_t, del_work);
 	kobject_del(&rdev->kobj);
+	kobject_put(&rdev->kobj);
 }
 
 static void unbind_rdev_from_array(mdk_rdev_t * rdev)
@@ -1441,7 +1442,8 @@ static void unbind_rdev_from_array(mdk_rdev_t * rdev)
 	/* We need to delay this, otherwise we can deadlock when
 	 * writing to 'remove' to "dev/state"
 	 */
-	INIT_WORK(&rdev->del_work, delayed_delete);
+	INIT_WORK(&rdev->del_work, md_delayed_delete);
+	kobject_get(&rdev->kobj);
 	schedule_work(&rdev->del_work);
 }
 
@@ -3686,7 +3688,7 @@ static int do_md_stop(mddev_t * mddev, int mode)
 				sysfs_remove_link(&mddev->kobj, nm);
 			}
 
-		/* make sure all delayed_delete calls have finished */
+		/* make sure all md_delayed_delete calls have finished */
 		flush_scheduled_work();
 
 		export_array(mddev);