diff --git a/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c b/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c
index 834a0811e371..3a62e6197151 100644
--- a/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c
+++ b/drivers/rpmsg/virtio_rpmsg_bus.c
@@ -842,7 +842,7 @@ static struct rpmsg_device *rpmsg_virtio_add_ctrl_dev(struct virtio_device *vdev
 
 	err = rpmsg_chrdev_register_device(rpdev_ctrl);
 	if (err) {
-		kfree(vch);
+		/* vch will be free in virtio_rpmsg_release_device() */
 		return ERR_PTR(err);
 	}