diff --git a/fs/btrfs/volumes.c b/fs/btrfs/volumes.c
index 2c0aa03b6437..0c7f4f6237e8 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/volumes.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/volumes.c
@@ -4318,6 +4318,8 @@ int btrfs_recover_balance(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info)
 		btrfs_warn(fs_info,
 	"balance: cannot set exclusive op status, resume manually");
 
+	btrfs_release_path(path);
+
 	mutex_lock(&fs_info->balance_mutex);
 	BUG_ON(fs_info->balance_ctl);
 	spin_lock(&fs_info->balance_lock);