diff --git a/block/bdev.c b/block/bdev.c
index fac74319e9fb..cc35126e483d 100644
--- a/block/bdev.c
+++ b/block/bdev.c
@@ -1366,6 +1366,15 @@ void sync_bdevs(bool wait)
 		old_inode = inode;
 		bdev = I_BDEV(inode);
 
+		/*
+		 * The inode does not keep the gendisk of a partition alive, the
+		 * device does.
+		 */
+		if (!kobject_get_unless_zero(&bdev->bd_device.kobj)) {
+			spin_lock(&blockdev_superblock->s_inode_list_lock);
+			continue;
+		}
+
 		mutex_lock(&bdev->bd_disk->open_mutex);
 		if (!atomic_read(&bdev->bd_openers)) {
 			; /* skip */
@@ -1381,6 +1390,7 @@ void sync_bdevs(bool wait)
 			filemap_fdatawrite(inode->i_mapping);
 		}
 		mutex_unlock(&bdev->bd_disk->open_mutex);
+		put_device(&bdev->bd_device);
 
 		spin_lock(&blockdev_superblock->s_inode_list_lock);
 	}