diff --git a/net/xdp/xdp_umem.c b/net/xdp/xdp_umem.c
index 9c6de4f114f8..267b82a4cbcf 100644
--- a/net/xdp/xdp_umem.c
+++ b/net/xdp/xdp_umem.c
@@ -105,6 +105,9 @@ int xdp_umem_assign_dev(struct xdp_umem *umem, struct net_device *dev,
 
 	umem->dev = dev;
 	umem->queue_id = queue_id;
+
+	dev_hold(dev);
+
 	if (force_copy)
 		/* For copy-mode, we are done. */
 		goto out_rtnl_unlock;
@@ -124,7 +127,6 @@ int xdp_umem_assign_dev(struct xdp_umem *umem, struct net_device *dev,
 		goto err_unreg_umem;
 	rtnl_unlock();
 
-	dev_hold(dev);
 	umem->zc = true;
 	return 0;
 
@@ -163,10 +165,9 @@ static void xdp_umem_clear_dev(struct xdp_umem *umem)
 	xdp_clear_umem_at_qid(umem->dev, umem->queue_id);
 	rtnl_unlock();
 
-	if (umem->zc) {
-		dev_put(umem->dev);
-		umem->zc = false;
-	}
+	dev_put(umem->dev);
+	umem->dev = NULL;
+	umem->zc = false;
 }
 
 static void xdp_umem_unpin_pages(struct xdp_umem *umem)