diff --git a/drivers/gpu/msm/kgsl.c b/drivers/gpu/msm/kgsl.c
index d7183fca19c..5d16bc132db 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/msm/kgsl.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/msm/kgsl.c
@@ -963,17 +963,24 @@ static struct kgsl_process_private *kgsl_process_private_new(void)
 	list_for_each_entry(private, &kgsl_driver.process_list, list) {
 		if (private->pid == cur_pid) {
 			if (!kgsl_process_private_get(private)) {
-				put_pid(cur_pid);
 				private = NULL;
 			}
+			/*
+			 * We need to hold only one reference to the PID for
+			 * each process struct to avoid overflowing the
+			 * reference counter which can lead to use-after-free.
+			 */
+			put_pid(cur_pid);
 			goto done;
 		}
 	}
 
 	/* no existing process private found for this dev_priv, create one */
 	private = kzalloc(sizeof(struct kgsl_process_private), GFP_KERNEL);
-	if (private == NULL)
+	if (private == NULL) {
+		put_pid(cur_pid);
 		goto done;
+	}
 
 	kref_init(&private->refcount);