diff --git a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-dev.c b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-dev.c
index d750bf10febe..fd267fb74905 100644
--- a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-dev.c
+++ b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-dev.c
@@ -1075,6 +1075,20 @@ int __video_register_device(struct video_device *vdev,
 	mutex_lock(&videodev_lock);
 	ret = device_register(&vdev->dev);
 	if (ret < 0) {
+		/*
+		 * We should do a put_device() here, but the problem is that
+		 * the V4L2 API expects drivers to call video_device_release()
+		 * on error, and so both put_device() and video_device_release
+		 * would kfree vdev.
+		 *
+		 * The proper solution would be to split this function into
+		 * two parts: initialization and registration, and then rework
+		 * all drivers.
+		 *
+		 * Until then just skip the put_device and free everything.
+		 * This will result in a small memory leak, which is better
+		 * than a double-free.
+		 */
 		mutex_unlock(&videodev_lock);
 		pr_err("%s: device_register failed\n", __func__);
 		goto cleanup;