diff --git a/security/keys/request_key.c b/security/keys/request_key.c
index 7325f382dbf4..957b9e3e1492 100644
--- a/security/keys/request_key.c
+++ b/security/keys/request_key.c
@@ -595,7 +595,7 @@ struct key *request_key_and_link(struct key_type *type,
 
 	key = check_cached_key(&ctx);
 	if (key)
-		return key;
+		goto error_free;
 
 	/* search all the process keyrings for a key */
 	rcu_read_lock();