diff --git a/fs/io_uring.c b/fs/io_uring.c
index 9ac5e278a91e6666600df0c6de18985d75f6047b..599102cc6dfc23e5340d62dca47c452e4d5d7e5b 100644
--- a/fs/io_uring.c
+++ b/fs/io_uring.c
@@ -6354,10 +6354,11 @@ static enum hrtimer_restart io_link_timeout_fn(struct hrtimer *timer)
 	 * We don't expect the list to be empty, that will only happen if we
 	 * race with the completion of the linked work.
 	 */
-	if (prev && req_ref_inc_not_zero(prev))
+	if (prev) {
 		io_remove_next_linked(prev);
-	else
-		prev = NULL;
+		if (!req_ref_inc_not_zero(prev))
+			prev = NULL;
+	}
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&ctx->completion_lock, flags);
 
 	if (prev) {