diff --git a/net/mptcp/protocol.c b/net/mptcp/protocol.c
index 389d9b342bdb..889059f0a8f6 100644
--- a/net/mptcp/protocol.c
+++ b/net/mptcp/protocol.c
@@ -963,14 +963,19 @@ static void mptcp_reset_rtx_timer(struct sock *sk)
 
 bool mptcp_schedule_work(struct sock *sk)
 {
-	if (inet_sk_state_load(sk) != TCP_CLOSE &&
-	    schedule_work(&mptcp_sk(sk)->work)) {
-		/* each subflow already holds a reference to the sk, and the
-		 * workqueue is invoked by a subflow, so sk can't go away here.
-		 */
-		sock_hold(sk);
+	if (inet_sk_state_load(sk) == TCP_CLOSE)
+		return false;
+
+	/* Get a reference on this socket, mptcp_worker() will release it.
+	 * As mptcp_worker() might complete before us, we can not avoid
+	 * a sock_hold()/sock_put() if schedule_work() returns false.
+	 */
+	sock_hold(sk);
+
+	if (schedule_work(&mptcp_sk(sk)->work))
 		return true;
-	}
+
+	sock_put(sk);
 	return false;
 }