diff --git a/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_pretimeout.c b/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_pretimeout.c
index 376a495ab80c..e5295c990fa1 100644
--- a/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_pretimeout.c
+++ b/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_pretimeout.c
@@ -207,10 +207,9 @@ void watchdog_unregister_pretimeout(struct watchdog_device *wdd)
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(p, t, &pretimeout_list, entry) {
 		if (p->wdd == wdd) {
 			list_del(&p->entry);
+			kfree(p);
 			break;
 		}
 	}
 	spin_unlock_irq(&pretimeout_lock);
-
-	kfree(p);
 }