diff --git a/net/ipv4/af_inet.c b/net/ipv4/af_inet.c
index 5183a2daba643b9c07f279f10672d98cd59ed437..aff93e7cdb310ad736afd952805b8b295f573dff 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/af_inet.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/af_inet.c
@@ -428,8 +428,8 @@ int inet_release(struct socket *sock)
 		if (sock_flag(sk, SOCK_LINGER) &&
 		    !(current->flags & PF_EXITING))
 			timeout = sk->sk_lingertime;
-		sock->sk = NULL;
 		sk->sk_prot->close(sk, timeout);
+		sock->sk = NULL;
 	}
 	return 0;
 }