diff --git a/mm/mempolicy.c b/mm/mempolicy.c
index a52daebcf41e..d79ab5116a7b 100644
--- a/mm/mempolicy.c
+++ b/mm/mempolicy.c
@@ -2559,6 +2559,7 @@ 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;
 }