diff --git a/drivers/net/ovpn/tcp.c b/drivers/net/ovpn/tcp.c
index 433bd07a4f1b..0af14055c39a 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ovpn/tcp.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ovpn/tcp.c
@@ -151,7 +151,8 @@ static void ovpn_tcp_rcv(struct strparser *strp, struct sk_buff *skb)
 	/* take reference for deferred peer deletion. should never fail */
 	if (WARN_ON(!ovpn_peer_hold(peer)))
 		goto err_nopeer;
-	schedule_work(&peer->tcp.defer_del_work);
+	if (!schedule_work(&peer->tcp.defer_del_work))
+		ovpn_peer_put(peer);
 	ovpn_dev_dstats_rx_dropped(peer->ovpn->dev);
 err_nopeer:
 	kfree_skb(skb);
@@ -283,7 +284,8 @@ static void ovpn_tcp_send_sock(struct ovpn_peer *peer, struct sock *sk)
 			 * stream therefore we abort the connection
 			 */
 			ovpn_peer_hold(peer);
-			schedule_work(&peer->tcp.defer_del_work);
+			if (!schedule_work(&peer->tcp.defer_del_work))
+				ovpn_peer_put(peer);
 
 			/* we bail out immediately and keep tx_in_progress set
 			 * to true. This way we prevent more TX attempts