diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_active.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_active.c
index da58e5d084f4c0fd343c88604e095fe6793bdac0..9ccb931a733e8a087efb73dc3bf5d31425318505 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_active.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_active.c
@@ -398,9 +398,13 @@ i915_active_set_exclusive(struct i915_active *ref, struct dma_fence *f)
 	/* We expect the caller to manage the exclusive timeline ordering */
 	GEM_BUG_ON(i915_active_is_idle(ref));
 
+	rcu_read_lock();
 	prev = __i915_active_fence_set(&ref->excl, f);
-	if (!prev)
+	if (prev)
+		prev = dma_fence_get_rcu(prev);
+	else
 		atomic_inc(&ref->count);
+	rcu_read_unlock();
 
 	return prev;
 }
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_vma.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_vma.c
index e801e28de4705c3222907faa626fec8065179546..74dc3ba59ce52784af84f23adb6aecd3a83746ca 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_vma.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_vma.c
@@ -422,10 +422,12 @@ int i915_vma_bind(struct i915_vma *vma,
 		 * execution and not content or object's backing store lifetime.
 		 */
 		prev = i915_active_set_exclusive(&vma->active, &work->base.dma);
-		if (prev)
+		if (prev) {
 			__i915_sw_fence_await_dma_fence(&work->base.chain,
 							prev,
 							&work->cb);
+			dma_fence_put(prev);
+		}
 
 		work->base.dma.error = 0; /* enable the queue_work() */