diff --git a/drivers/hwmon/w83793.c b/drivers/hwmon/w83793.c
index a548586369e1..c6ef04c69856 100644
--- a/drivers/hwmon/w83793.c
+++ b/drivers/hwmon/w83793.c
@@ -1928,7 +1928,9 @@ static int w83793_probe(struct i2c_client *client)
 	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(w83793_temp); i++)
 		device_remove_file(dev, &w83793_temp[i].dev_attr);
 free_mem:
-	kfree(data);
+	mutex_lock(&watchdog_data_mutex);
+	kref_put(&data->kref, w83793_release_resources);
+	mutex_unlock(&watchdog_data_mutex);
 exit:
 	return err;
 }