diff --git a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/mdc/mdc_request.c b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/mdc/mdc_request.c
index b41f1ddf72cd4da1d18febfbd858357922231dbf..6bc2fb8586802ead7b01d4aeb6ec75c57b9b4cab 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/mdc/mdc_request.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/mdc/mdc_request.c
@@ -762,6 +762,7 @@ static int mdc_close(struct obd_export *exp, struct md_op_data *op_data,
 	rc = ptlrpc_request_pack(req, LUSTRE_MDS_VERSION, MDS_CLOSE);
 	if (rc) {
 		ptlrpc_request_free(req);
+		req = NULL;
 		goto out;
 	}