diff --git a/drivers/iio/buffer/industrialio-triggered-buffer.c b/drivers/iio/buffer/industrialio-triggered-buffer.c
index f77c4538141e..6dac1e83de9c 100644
--- a/drivers/iio/buffer/industrialio-triggered-buffer.c
+++ b/drivers/iio/buffer/industrialio-triggered-buffer.c
@@ -44,6 +44,16 @@ int iio_triggered_buffer_setup_ext(struct iio_dev *indio_dev,
 	struct iio_buffer *buffer;
 	int ret;
 
+	/*
+	 * iio_triggered_buffer_cleanup() assumes that the buffer allocated here
+	 * is assigned to indio_dev->buffer but this is only the case if this
+	 * function is the first caller to iio_device_attach_buffer(). If
+	 * indio_dev->buffer is already set then we can't proceed otherwise the
+	 * cleanup function will try to free a buffer that was not allocated here.
+	 */
+	if (indio_dev->buffer)
+		return -EADDRINUSE;
+
 	buffer = iio_kfifo_allocate();
 	if (!buffer) {
 		ret = -ENOMEM;