diff --git a/fs/btrfs/ioctl.c b/fs/btrfs/ioctl.c
index 14c0d2e0790c..e262cd8c4a7d 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/ioctl.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/ioctl.c
@@ -571,8 +571,12 @@ static int create_snapshot(struct btrfs_root *root, struct dentry *dentry,
 		ret = btrfs_commit_transaction(trans,
 					       root->fs_info->extent_root);
 	}
-	if (ret)
+	if (ret) {
+		/* cleanup_transaction has freed this for us */
+		if (trans->aborted)
+			pending_snapshot = NULL;
 		goto fail;
+	}
 
 	ret = pending_snapshot->error;
 	if (ret)