diff --git a/net/mptcp/subflow.c b/net/mptcp/subflow.c
index bf808f1fabe5b..73e66a406d994 100644
--- a/net/mptcp/subflow.c
+++ b/net/mptcp/subflow.c
@@ -313,12 +313,17 @@ void mptcp_subflow_reset(struct sock *ssk)
 	struct mptcp_subflow_context *subflow = mptcp_subflow_ctx(ssk);
 	struct sock *sk = subflow->conn;
 
+	/* must hold: tcp_done() could drop last reference on parent */
+	sock_hold(sk);
+
 	tcp_set_state(ssk, TCP_CLOSE);
 	tcp_send_active_reset(ssk, GFP_ATOMIC);
 	tcp_done(ssk);
 	if (!test_and_set_bit(MPTCP_WORK_CLOSE_SUBFLOW, &mptcp_sk(sk)->flags) &&
 	    schedule_work(&mptcp_sk(sk)->work))
-		sock_hold(sk);
+		return; /* worker will put sk for us */
+
+	sock_put(sk);
 }
 
 static void subflow_finish_connect(struct sock *sk, const struct sk_buff *skb)