struct request_sock *req;
 
        req = kmem_cache_alloc(ops->slab, GFP_ATOMIC | __GFP_NOWARN);
-
-       if (req) {
-               req->rsk_ops = ops;
-               if (attach_listener) {
-                       sock_hold(sk_listener);
-                       req->rsk_listener = sk_listener;
-               } else {
-                       req->rsk_listener = NULL;
+       if (!req)
+               return NULL;
+       req->rsk_listener = NULL;
+       if (attach_listener) {
+               if (unlikely(!atomic_inc_not_zero(&sk_listener->sk_refcnt))) {
+                       kmem_cache_free(ops->slab, req);
+                       return NULL;
                }
-               req_to_sk(req)->sk_prot = sk_listener->sk_prot;
-               sk_node_init(&req_to_sk(req)->sk_node);
-               sk_tx_queue_clear(req_to_sk(req));
-               req->saved_syn = NULL;
-               /* Following is temporary. It is coupled with debugging
-                * helpers in reqsk_put() & reqsk_free()
-                */
-               atomic_set(&req->rsk_refcnt, 0);
+               req->rsk_listener = sk_listener;
        }
+       req->rsk_ops = ops;
+       req_to_sk(req)->sk_prot = sk_listener->sk_prot;
+       sk_node_init(&req_to_sk(req)->sk_node);
+       sk_tx_queue_clear(req_to_sk(req));
+       req->saved_syn = NULL;
+       atomic_set(&req->rsk_refcnt, 0);
+
        return req;
 }