diff --git a/drivers/nvme/target/core.c b/drivers/nvme/target/core.c
index 0506a2e79..27d1c7036 100755
--- a/drivers/nvme/target/core.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/target/core.c
@@ -795,6 +795,15 @@ void nvmet_sq_destroy(struct nvmet_sq *sq)
 	wait_for_completion(&sq->free_done);
 	percpu_ref_exit(&sq->ref);
 
+	/*
+	 * we must reference the ctrl again after waiting for inflight IO
+	 * to complete. Because admin connect may have sneaked in after we
+	 * store sq->ctrl locally, but before we killed the percpu_ref. the
+	 * admin connect allocates and assigns sq->ctrl, which now needs a
+	 * final ref put, as this ctrl is going away.
+	 */
+	ctrl = sq->ctrl;
+
 	if (ctrl) {
 		/*
 		 * The teardown flow may take some time, and the host may not