struct uid_gid_map      uid_map;
        struct uid_gid_map      gid_map;
        struct uid_gid_map      projid_map;
-       struct kref             kref;
+       atomic_t                count;
        struct user_namespace   *parent;
        kuid_t                  owner;
        kgid_t                  group;
 static inline struct user_namespace *get_user_ns(struct user_namespace *ns)
 {
        if (ns)
-               kref_get(&ns->kref);
+               atomic_inc(&ns->count);
        return ns;
 }
 
 extern int create_user_ns(struct cred *new);
 extern int unshare_userns(unsigned long unshare_flags, struct cred **new_cred);
-extern void free_user_ns(struct kref *kref);
+extern void free_user_ns(struct user_namespace *ns);
 
 static inline void put_user_ns(struct user_namespace *ns)
 {
-       if (ns)
-               kref_put(&ns->kref, free_user_ns);
+       if (ns && atomic_dec_and_test(&ns->count))
+               free_user_ns(ns);
 }
 
 struct seq_operations;
 
                        .count = 4294967295U,
                },
        },
-       .kref = {
-               .refcount       = ATOMIC_INIT(3),
-       },
+       .count = ATOMIC_INIT(3),
        .owner = GLOBAL_ROOT_UID,
        .group = GLOBAL_ROOT_GID,
        .proc_inum = PROC_USER_INIT_INO,
 
                return ret;
        }
 
-       kref_init(&ns->kref);
+       atomic_set(&ns->count, 1);
        /* Leave the new->user_ns reference with the new user namespace. */
        ns->parent = parent_ns;
        ns->owner = owner;
        return create_user_ns(cred);
 }
 
-void free_user_ns(struct kref *kref)
+void free_user_ns(struct user_namespace *ns)
 {
-       struct user_namespace *parent, *ns =
-               container_of(kref, struct user_namespace, kref);
+       struct user_namespace *parent;
 
-       parent = ns->parent;
-       proc_free_inum(ns->proc_inum);
-       kmem_cache_free(user_ns_cachep, ns);
-       put_user_ns(parent);
+       do {
+               parent = ns->parent;
+               proc_free_inum(ns->proc_inum);
+               kmem_cache_free(user_ns_cachep, ns);
+               ns = parent;
+       } while (atomic_dec_and_test(&parent->count));
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(free_user_ns);