struct msm_drm_private *priv = dev->dev_private;
        struct drm_msm_gem_submit *args = data;
        struct msm_file_private *ctx = file->driver_priv;
-       struct msm_gem_submit *submit;
+       struct msm_gem_submit *submit = NULL;
        struct msm_gpu *gpu = priv->gpu;
        struct msm_gpu_submitqueue *queue;
        struct msm_ringbuffer *ring;
                out_fence_fd = get_unused_fd_flags(O_CLOEXEC);
                if (out_fence_fd < 0) {
                        ret = out_fence_fd;
-                       return ret;
+                       goto out_post_unlock;
                }
        }
 
        submit = submit_create(dev, gpu, queue, args->nr_bos, args->nr_cmds);
-       if (IS_ERR(submit))
-               return PTR_ERR(submit);
+       if (IS_ERR(submit)) {
+               ret = PTR_ERR(submit);
+               goto out_post_unlock;
+       }
 
        trace_msm_gpu_submit(pid_nr(submit->pid), ring->id, submit->ident,
                args->nr_bos, args->nr_cmds);
        if (has_ww_ticket)
                ww_acquire_fini(&submit->ticket);
 out_unlock:
-       if (ret && (out_fence_fd >= 0))
-               put_unused_fd(out_fence_fd);
        mutex_unlock(&queue->lock);
 out_post_unlock:
-       msm_gem_submit_put(submit);
+       if (ret && (out_fence_fd >= 0))
+               put_unused_fd(out_fence_fd);
+
+       if (!IS_ERR_OR_NULL(submit)) {
+               msm_gem_submit_put(submit);
+       } else {
+               /*
+                * If the submit hasn't yet taken ownership of the queue
+                * then we need to drop the reference ourself:
+                */
+               msm_submitqueue_put(queue);
+       }
        if (!IS_ERR_OR_NULL(post_deps)) {
                for (i = 0; i < args->nr_out_syncobjs; ++i) {
                        kfree(post_deps[i].chain);