diff --git a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c
index f6b090df3930..afca2eb4dfa7 100644
--- a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c
+++ b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c
@@ -1319,7 +1319,7 @@ static void l2tp_tunnel_del_work(struct work_struct *work)
 	tunnel = container_of(work, struct l2tp_tunnel, del_work);
 	sk = l2tp_tunnel_sock_lookup(tunnel);
 	if (!sk)
-		return;
+		goto out;
 
 	sock = sk->sk_socket;
 
@@ -1341,6 +1341,8 @@ static void l2tp_tunnel_del_work(struct work_struct *work)
 	}
 
 	l2tp_tunnel_sock_put(sk);
+out:
+	l2tp_tunnel_dec_refcount(tunnel);
 }
 
 /* Create a socket for the tunnel, if one isn't set up by
@@ -1636,8 +1638,13 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(l2tp_tunnel_create);
  */
 int l2tp_tunnel_delete(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel)
 {
+	l2tp_tunnel_inc_refcount(tunnel);
 	l2tp_tunnel_closeall(tunnel);
-	return (false == queue_work(l2tp_wq, &tunnel->del_work));
+	if (false == queue_work(l2tp_wq, &tunnel->del_work)) {
+		l2tp_tunnel_dec_refcount(tunnel);
+		return 1;
+	}
+	return 0;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(l2tp_tunnel_delete);