diff --git a/net/ipv4/devinet.c b/net/ipv4/devinet.c
index a7dd088..38d9af9 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/devinet.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/devinet.c
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@
 	/* Reference in_dev->dev */
 	dev_hold(dev);
 	/* Account for reference dev->ip_ptr (below) */
-	in_dev_hold(in_dev);
+	refcount_set(&in_dev->refcnt, 1);
 
 	err = devinet_sysctl_register(in_dev);
 	if (err) {