--- x/drivers/md/md.c
+++ y/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -632,10 +632,13 @@ static void mddev_delayed_delete(struct
 
 static void __mddev_put(struct mddev *mddev)
 {
+	struct kobject *kobj = &mddev->kobj;
+
 	if (mddev->raid_disks || !list_empty(&mddev->disks) ||
 	    mddev->ctime || mddev->hold_active)
 		return;
 
+	BUG_ON(kref_read(&kobj->kref) < 1);
 	/*
 	 * Call queue_work inside the spinlock so that flush_workqueue() after
 	 * mddev_find will succeed in waiting for the work to be done.
@@ -710,6 +713,7 @@ int mddev_init(struct mddev *mddev)
 
 	INIT_WORK(&mddev->sync_work, md_start_sync);
 	INIT_WORK(&mddev->del_work, mddev_delayed_delete);
+	kobject_init(&mddev->kobj, &md_ktype);
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -5982,7 +5986,6 @@ struct mddev *md_alloc(dev_t dev, char *
 	if (error)
 		goto out_put_disk;
 
-	kobject_init(&mddev->kobj, &md_ktype);
 	error = kobject_add(&mddev->kobj, &disk_to_dev(disk)->kobj, "%s", "md");
 	if (error) {
 		/*