diff --git a/lib/kobject.c b/lib/kobject.c
index 83198cb..0c6d175 100644
--- a/lib/kobject.c
+++ b/lib/kobject.c
@@ -599,14 +599,7 @@
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(kobject_move);
 
-/**
- * kobject_del() - Unlink kobject from hierarchy.
- * @kobj: object.
- *
- * This is the function that should be called to delete an object
- * successfully added via kobject_add().
- */
-void kobject_del(struct kobject *kobj)
+static void __kobject_del(struct kobject *kobj)
 {
 	struct kernfs_node *sd;
 	const struct kobj_type *ktype;
@@ -625,9 +618,27 @@
 
 	kobj->state_in_sysfs = 0;
 	kobj_kset_leave(kobj);
-	kobject_put(kobj->parent);
 	kobj->parent = NULL;
 }
+
+/**
+ * kobject_del() - Unlink kobject from hierarchy.
+ * @kobj: object.
+ *
+ * This is the function that should be called to delete an object
+ * successfully added via kobject_add().
+ */
+void kobject_del(struct kobject *kobj)
+{
+	struct kobject *parent;
+
+	if (!kobj)
+		return;
+
+	parent = kobj->parent;
+	__kobject_del(kobj);
+	kobject_put(parent);
+}
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(kobject_del);
 
 /**
@@ -663,6 +674,7 @@
  */
 static void kobject_cleanup(struct kobject *kobj)
 {
+	struct kobject *parent = kobj->parent;
 	struct kobj_type *t = get_ktype(kobj);
 	const char *name = kobj->name;
 
@@ -684,7 +696,10 @@
 	if (kobj->state_in_sysfs) {
 		pr_debug("kobject: '%s' (%p): auto cleanup kobject_del\n",
 			 kobject_name(kobj), kobj);
-		kobject_del(kobj);
+		__kobject_del(kobj);
+	} else {
+		/* avoid dropping the parent reference unnecessarily */
+		parent = NULL;
 	}
 
 	if (t && t->release) {
@@ -698,6 +713,8 @@
 		pr_debug("kobject: '%s': free name\n", name);
 		kfree_const(name);
 	}
+
+	kobject_put(parent);
 }
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE