diff --git a/mm/mempolicy.c b/mm/mempolicy.c
index 426ec13f531b..9c44399f1174 100644
--- a/mm/mempolicy.c
+++ b/mm/mempolicy.c
@@ -2500,6 +2500,7 @@ 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;
 }