diff --git a/fs/sysfs/dir.c b/fs/sysfs/dir.c
index 35a36d39fa2c..24fa995f0312 100644
--- a/fs/sysfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/sysfs/dir.c
@@ -858,7 +858,6 @@ int sysfs_rename(struct sysfs_dirent *sd,
 	struct sysfs_dirent *new_parent_sd, const void *new_ns,
 	const char *new_name)
 {
-	const char *dup_name = NULL;
 	int error;
 
 	mutex_lock(&sysfs_mutex);
@@ -875,11 +874,11 @@ int sysfs_rename(struct sysfs_dirent *sd,
 	/* rename sysfs_dirent */
 	if (strcmp(sd->s_name, new_name) != 0) {
 		error = -ENOMEM;
-		new_name = dup_name = kstrdup(new_name, GFP_KERNEL);
+		new_name = kstrdup(new_name, GFP_KERNEL);
 		if (!new_name)
 			goto out;
 
-		dup_name = sd->s_name;
+		kfree(sd->s_name);
 		sd->s_name = new_name;
 	}
 
@@ -895,7 +894,6 @@ int sysfs_rename(struct sysfs_dirent *sd,
 	error = 0;
  out:
 	mutex_unlock(&sysfs_mutex);
-	kfree(dup_name);
 	return error;
 }