diff --git a/drivers/block/rnbd/Makefile b/drivers/block/rnbd/Makefile
index 5fc05e667950..40b31630822c 100644
--- a/drivers/block/rnbd/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/block/rnbd/Makefile
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ CFLAGS_rnbd-srv-trace.o = -I$(src)
 
 rnbd-server-y := rnbd-common.o \
 		  rnbd-srv.o \
-		  rnbd-srv-dev.o \
 		  rnbd-srv-sysfs.o \
 		  rnbd-srv-trace.o
 
diff --git a/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv-dev.c b/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv-dev.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 38131fa5718d..000000000000
--- a/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv-dev.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
-/*
- * RDMA Network Block Driver
- *
- * Copyright (c) 2014 - 2018 ProfitBricks GmbH. All rights reserved.
- * Copyright (c) 2018 - 2019 1&1 IONOS Cloud GmbH. All rights reserved.
- * Copyright (c) 2019 - 2020 1&1 IONOS SE. All rights reserved.
- */
-#undef pr_fmt
-#define pr_fmt(fmt) KBUILD_MODNAME " L" __stringify(__LINE__) ": " fmt
-
-#include "rnbd-srv-dev.h"
-#include "rnbd-log.h"
-
-struct rnbd_dev *rnbd_dev_open(const char *path, fmode_t flags)
-{
-	struct rnbd_dev *dev;
-	int ret;
-
-	dev = kzalloc(sizeof(*dev), GFP_KERNEL);
-	if (!dev)
-		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
-
-	dev->bdev = blkdev_get_by_path(path, flags, THIS_MODULE);
-	ret = PTR_ERR_OR_ZERO(dev->bdev);
-	if (ret)
-		goto err;
-
-	dev->blk_open_flags = flags;
-
-	return dev;
-
-err:
-	kfree(dev);
-	return ERR_PTR(ret);
-}
-
-void rnbd_dev_close(struct rnbd_dev *dev)
-{
-	blkdev_put(dev->bdev, dev->blk_open_flags);
-	kfree(dev);
-}
diff --git a/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv-dev.h b/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv-dev.h
index 328dc915832c..abaf77d68e5b 100644
--- a/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv-dev.h
+++ b/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv-dev.h
@@ -17,16 +17,4 @@ struct rnbd_dev {
 	fmode_t			blk_open_flags;
 };
 
-/**
- * rnbd_dev_open() - Open a device
- * @path:	path to open
- * @flags:	open flags
- */
-struct rnbd_dev *rnbd_dev_open(const char *path, fmode_t flags);
-
-/**
- * rnbd_dev_close() - Close a device
- */
-void rnbd_dev_close(struct rnbd_dev *dev);
-
 #endif /* RNBD_SRV_DEV_H */
diff --git a/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv.c b/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv.c
index d487281a37f8..e9c8a722d9c5 100644
--- a/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv.c
+++ b/drivers/block/rnbd/rnbd-srv.c
@@ -220,7 +220,9 @@ void rnbd_destroy_sess_dev(struct rnbd_srv_sess_dev *sess_dev, bool keep_id)
 	rnbd_put_sess_dev(sess_dev);
 	wait_for_completion(&dc); /* wait for inflights to drop to zero */
 
-	rnbd_dev_close(sess_dev->rnbd_dev);
+	blkdev_put(sess_dev->rnbd_dev->bdev,
+		   sess_dev->rnbd_dev->blk_open_flags);
+	kfree(sess_dev->rnbd_dev);
 	mutex_lock(&sess_dev->dev->lock);
 	list_del(&sess_dev->dev_list);
 	if (sess_dev->open_flags & FMODE_WRITE)
@@ -721,11 +723,19 @@ static int process_msg_open(struct rnbd_srv_session *srv_sess,
 		goto reject;
 	}
 
-	rnbd_dev = rnbd_dev_open(full_path, open_flags);
-	if (IS_ERR(rnbd_dev)) {
-		pr_err("Opening device '%s' on session %s failed, failed to open the block device, err: %ld\n",
-		       full_path, srv_sess->sessname, PTR_ERR(rnbd_dev));
-		ret = PTR_ERR(rnbd_dev);
+	rnbd_dev = kzalloc(sizeof(*rnbd_dev), GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (!rnbd_dev) {
+		ret = -ENOMEM;
+		goto free_path;
+	}
+
+	rnbd_dev->blk_open_flags = open_flags;
+	rnbd_dev->bdev = blkdev_get_by_path(full_path, open_flags, THIS_MODULE);
+	if (IS_ERR(rnbd_dev->bdev)) {
+		ret = PTR_ERR(rnbd_dev->bdev);
+		pr_err("Opening device '%s' on session %s failed, failed to open the block device, err: %d\n",
+		       full_path, srv_sess->sessname, ret);
+		kfree(rnbd_dev);
 		goto free_path;
 	}
 
@@ -797,7 +807,8 @@ srv_dev_put:
 	}
 	rnbd_put_srv_dev(srv_dev);
 rnbd_dev_close:
-	rnbd_dev_close(rnbd_dev);
+	blkdev_put(rnbd_dev->bdev, rnbd_dev->blk_open_flags);
+	kfree(rnbd_dev);
 free_path:
 	kfree(full_path);
 reject: