diff --git a/drivers/staging/greybus/connection.c b/drivers/staging/greybus/connection.c
index 2d19082a7f35..ac9b2d174805 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/greybus/connection.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/greybus/connection.c
@@ -232,9 +232,6 @@ static void gb_connection_cancel_operations(struct gb_connection *connection,
 	struct gb_operation *operation;
 
 	spin_lock_irq(&connection->lock);
-
-	WARN_ON(!list_empty(&connection->operations));
-
 	while (!list_empty(&connection->operations)) {
 		operation = list_last_entry(&connection->operations,
 						struct gb_operation, links);
@@ -259,8 +256,6 @@ void gb_connection_destroy(struct gb_connection *connection)
 	if (WARN_ON(!connection))
 		return;
 
-	gb_connection_cancel_operations(connection, -ESHUTDOWN);
-
 	spin_lock_irq(&gb_connections_lock);
 	list_del(&connection->bundle_links);
 	list_del(&connection->hd_links);
@@ -334,6 +329,8 @@ void gb_connection_exit(struct gb_connection *connection)
 	connection->state = GB_CONNECTION_STATE_DESTROYING;
 	spin_unlock_irq(&connection->lock);
 
+	gb_connection_cancel_operations(connection, -ESHUTDOWN);
+
 	connection->protocol->connection_exit(connection);
 
 	/*