diff --git a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/libcfs/linux/linux-proc.c b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/libcfs/linux/linux-proc.c
index bbe2c68c18a6..83d3f08a37b2 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/libcfs/linux/linux-proc.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/libcfs/linux/linux-proc.c
@@ -365,8 +365,8 @@ static int __proc_cpt_table(void *data, int write,
 		if (rc >= 0)
 			break;
 
-		LIBCFS_FREE(buf, len);
 		if (rc == -EFBIG) {
+			LIBCFS_FREE(buf, len);
 			len <<= 1;
 			continue;
 		}