diff --git a/drivers/acpi/utilities/utobject.c b/drivers/acpi/utilities/utobject.c
index db0b9bac7945..76ee766c84f9 100644
--- a/drivers/acpi/utilities/utobject.c
+++ b/drivers/acpi/utilities/utobject.c
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ union acpi_operand_object *acpi_ut_create_package_object(u32 count)
 	package_elements = ACPI_ALLOCATE_ZEROED((acpi_size)
 						(count + 1) * sizeof(void *));
 	if (!package_elements) {
-		ACPI_FREE(package_desc);
+		acpi_ut_remove_reference(package_desc);
 		return_PTR(NULL);
 	}