diff --git a/drivers/platform/x86/lenovo/wmi-helpers.c b/drivers/platform/x86/lenovo/wmi-helpers.c
index 7379defac500..018d7642e2bd 100644
--- a/drivers/platform/x86/lenovo/wmi-helpers.c
+++ b/drivers/platform/x86/lenovo/wmi-helpers.c
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ int lwmi_dev_evaluate_int(struct wmi_device *wdev, u8 instance, u32 method_id,
 			  unsigned char *buf, size_t size, u32 *retval)
 {
 	struct acpi_buffer output = { ACPI_ALLOCATE_BUFFER, NULL };
-	union acpi_object *ret_obj __free(kfree) = NULL;
 	struct acpi_buffer input = { size, buf };
 	acpi_status status;
 
@@ -55,8 +54,9 @@ int lwmi_dev_evaluate_int(struct wmi_device *wdev, u8 instance, u32 method_id,
 	if (ACPI_FAILURE(status))
 		return -EIO;
 
+	union acpi_object *ret_obj __free(kfree) = output.pointer;
+
 	if (retval) {
-		ret_obj = output.pointer;
 		if (!ret_obj)
 			return -ENODATA;