diff --git a/mm/mempolicy.c b/mm/mempolicy.c
index 25bda441d1cd..6059f85546fe 100644
--- a/mm/mempolicy.c
+++ b/mm/mempolicy.c
@@ -2499,6 +2499,7 @@ alloc_new:
 	mpol_new = kmem_cache_alloc(policy_cache, GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!mpol_new)
 		goto err_out;
+	atomic_set(&mpol_new->refcnt, 1);
 	goto restart;
 }