diff --git a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c
index 9cd2a99d0752..0fa53ead24aa 100644
--- a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c
+++ b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c
@@ -136,51 +136,6 @@ static inline struct l2tp_net *l2tp_pernet(const struct net *net)
 
 }
 
-/* Lookup the tunnel socket, possibly involving the fs code if the socket is
- * owned by userspace.  A struct sock returned from this function must be
- * released using l2tp_tunnel_sock_put once you're done with it.
- */
-static struct sock *l2tp_tunnel_sock_lookup(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel)
-{
-	int err = 0;
-	struct socket *sock = NULL;
-	struct sock *sk = NULL;
-
-	if (!tunnel)
-		goto out;
-
-	if (tunnel->fd >= 0) {
-		/* Socket is owned by userspace, who might be in the process
-		 * of closing it.  Look the socket up using the fd to ensure
-		 * consistency.
-		 */
-		sock = sockfd_lookup(tunnel->fd, &err);
-		if (sock)
-			sk = sock->sk;
-	} else {
-		/* Socket is owned by kernelspace */
-		sk = tunnel->sock;
-		sock_hold(sk);
-	}
-
-out:
-	return sk;
-}
-
-/* Drop a reference to a tunnel socket obtained via. l2tp_tunnel_sock_put */
-static void l2tp_tunnel_sock_put(struct sock *sk)
-{
-	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel = l2tp_sock_to_tunnel(sk);
-	if (tunnel) {
-		if (tunnel->fd >= 0) {
-			/* Socket is owned by userspace */
-			sockfd_put(sk->sk_socket);
-		}
-		sock_put(sk);
-	}
-	sock_put(sk);
-}
-
 /* Session hash list.
  * The session_id SHOULD be random according to RFC2661, but several
  * L2TP implementations (Cisco and Microsoft) use incrementing
@@ -193,6 +148,13 @@ static void l2tp_tunnel_sock_put(struct sock *sk)
 	return &tunnel->session_hlist[hash_32(session_id, L2TP_HASH_BITS)];
 }
 
+void l2tp_tunnel_free(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel)
+{
+	sock_put(tunnel->sock);
+	/* the tunnel is freed in the socket destructor */
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(l2tp_tunnel_free);
+
 /* Lookup a tunnel. A new reference is held on the returned tunnel. */
 struct l2tp_tunnel *l2tp_tunnel_get(const struct net *net, u32 tunnel_id)
 {
@@ -345,13 +307,11 @@ int l2tp_session_register(struct l2tp_session *session,
 			}
 
 		l2tp_tunnel_inc_refcount(tunnel);
-		sock_hold(tunnel->sock);
 		hlist_add_head_rcu(&session->global_hlist, g_head);
 
 		spin_unlock_bh(&pn->l2tp_session_hlist_lock);
 	} else {
 		l2tp_tunnel_inc_refcount(tunnel);
-		sock_hold(tunnel->sock);
 	}
 
 	hlist_add_head(&session->hlist, head);
@@ -969,7 +929,7 @@ int l2tp_udp_encap_recv(struct sock *sk, struct sk_buff *skb)
 {
 	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel;
 
-	tunnel = l2tp_sock_to_tunnel(sk);
+	tunnel = l2tp_tunnel(sk);
 	if (tunnel == NULL)
 		goto pass_up;
 
@@ -977,13 +937,10 @@ int l2tp_udp_encap_recv(struct sock *sk, struct sk_buff *skb)
 		 tunnel->name, skb->len);
 
 	if (l2tp_udp_recv_core(tunnel, skb, tunnel->recv_payload_hook))
-		goto pass_up_put;
+		goto pass_up;
 
-	sock_put(sk);
 	return 0;
 
-pass_up_put:
-	sock_put(sk);
 pass_up:
 	return 1;
 }
@@ -1214,7 +1171,6 @@ static void l2tp_tunnel_destruct(struct sock *sk)
 
 	l2tp_info(tunnel, L2TP_MSG_CONTROL, "%s: closing...\n", tunnel->name);
 
-
 	/* Disable udp encapsulation */
 	switch (tunnel->encap) {
 	case L2TP_ENCAPTYPE_UDP:
@@ -1237,12 +1193,11 @@ static void l2tp_tunnel_destruct(struct sock *sk)
 	list_del_rcu(&tunnel->list);
 	spin_unlock_bh(&pn->l2tp_tunnel_list_lock);
 
-	tunnel->sock = NULL;
-	l2tp_tunnel_dec_refcount(tunnel);
-
 	/* Call the original destructor */
 	if (sk->sk_destruct)
 		(*sk->sk_destruct)(sk);
+
+	kfree_rcu(tunnel, rcu);
 end:
 	return;
 }
@@ -1303,30 +1258,22 @@ void l2tp_tunnel_closeall(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel)
 /* Tunnel socket destroy hook for UDP encapsulation */
 static void l2tp_udp_encap_destroy(struct sock *sk)
 {
-	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel = l2tp_sock_to_tunnel(sk);
-	if (tunnel) {
-		l2tp_tunnel_closeall(tunnel);
-		sock_put(sk);
-	}
+	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel = l2tp_tunnel(sk);
+
+	if (tunnel)
+		l2tp_tunnel_delete(tunnel);
 }
 
 /* Workqueue tunnel deletion function */
 static void l2tp_tunnel_del_work(struct work_struct *work)
 {
-	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel = NULL;
-	struct socket *sock = NULL;
-	struct sock *sk = NULL;
-
-	tunnel = container_of(work, struct l2tp_tunnel, del_work);
+	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel = container_of(work, struct l2tp_tunnel,
+						  del_work);
+	struct sock *sk = tunnel->sock;
+	struct socket *sock = sk->sk_socket;
 
 	l2tp_tunnel_closeall(tunnel);
 
-	sk = l2tp_tunnel_sock_lookup(tunnel);
-	if (!sk)
-		goto out;
-
-	sock = sk->sk_socket;
-
 	/* If the tunnel socket was created within the kernel, use
 	 * the sk API to release it here.
 	 */
@@ -1337,8 +1284,10 @@ static void l2tp_tunnel_del_work(struct work_struct *work)
 		}
 	}
 
-	l2tp_tunnel_sock_put(sk);
-out:
+	/* drop initial ref */
+	l2tp_tunnel_dec_refcount(tunnel);
+
+	/* drop workqueue ref */
 	l2tp_tunnel_dec_refcount(tunnel);
 }
 
@@ -1591,13 +1540,22 @@ int l2tp_tunnel_create(struct net *net, int fd, int version, u32 tunnel_id, u32
 		sk->sk_user_data = tunnel;
 	}
 
+	/* Bump the reference count. The tunnel context is deleted
+	 * only when this drops to zero. A reference is also held on
+	 * the tunnel socket to ensure that it is not released while
+	 * the tunnel is extant. Must be done before sk_destruct is
+	 * set.
+	 */
+	refcount_set(&tunnel->ref_count, 1);
+	sock_hold(sk);
+	tunnel->sock = sk;
+	tunnel->fd = fd;
+
 	/* Hook on the tunnel socket destructor so that we can cleanup
 	 * if the tunnel socket goes away.
 	 */
 	tunnel->old_sk_destruct = sk->sk_destruct;
 	sk->sk_destruct = &l2tp_tunnel_destruct;
-	tunnel->sock = sk;
-	tunnel->fd = fd;
 	lockdep_set_class_and_name(&sk->sk_lock.slock, &l2tp_socket_class, "l2tp_sock");
 
 	sk->sk_allocation = GFP_ATOMIC;
@@ -1607,11 +1565,6 @@ int l2tp_tunnel_create(struct net *net, int fd, int version, u32 tunnel_id, u32
 
 	/* Add tunnel to our list */
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&tunnel->list);
-
-	/* Bump the reference count. The tunnel context is deleted
-	 * only when this drops to zero. Must be done before list insertion
-	 */
-	refcount_set(&tunnel->ref_count, 1);
 	spin_lock_bh(&pn->l2tp_tunnel_list_lock);
 	list_add_rcu(&tunnel->list, &pn->l2tp_tunnel_list);
 	spin_unlock_bh(&pn->l2tp_tunnel_list_lock);
@@ -1652,8 +1605,6 @@ void l2tp_session_free(struct l2tp_session *session)
 
 	if (tunnel) {
 		BUG_ON(tunnel->magic != L2TP_TUNNEL_MAGIC);
-		sock_put(tunnel->sock);
-		session->tunnel = NULL;
 		l2tp_tunnel_dec_refcount(tunnel);
 	}
 
diff --git a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.h b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.h
index 9bbee90e9963..a1aa9550f04e 100644
--- a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.h
+++ b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.h
@@ -214,27 +214,8 @@ static inline void *l2tp_session_priv(struct l2tp_session *session)
 	return &session->priv[0];
 }
 
-static inline struct l2tp_tunnel *l2tp_sock_to_tunnel(struct sock *sk)
-{
-	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel;
-
-	if (sk == NULL)
-		return NULL;
-
-	sock_hold(sk);
-	tunnel = (struct l2tp_tunnel *)(sk->sk_user_data);
-	if (tunnel == NULL) {
-		sock_put(sk);
-		goto out;
-	}
-
-	BUG_ON(tunnel->magic != L2TP_TUNNEL_MAGIC);
-
-out:
-	return tunnel;
-}
-
 struct l2tp_tunnel *l2tp_tunnel_get(const struct net *net, u32 tunnel_id);
+void l2tp_tunnel_free(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel);
 
 struct l2tp_session *l2tp_session_get(const struct net *net,
 				      struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel,
@@ -283,7 +264,7 @@ static inline void l2tp_tunnel_inc_refcount(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel)
 static inline void l2tp_tunnel_dec_refcount(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel)
 {
 	if (refcount_dec_and_test(&tunnel->ref_count))
-		kfree_rcu(tunnel, rcu);
+		l2tp_tunnel_free(tunnel);
 }
 
 /* Session reference counts. Incremented when code obtains a reference
diff --git a/net/l2tp/l2tp_ip.c b/net/l2tp/l2tp_ip.c
index ff61124fdf59..3428fba6f2b7 100644
--- a/net/l2tp/l2tp_ip.c
+++ b/net/l2tp/l2tp_ip.c
@@ -234,17 +234,13 @@ static void l2tp_ip_close(struct sock *sk, long timeout)
 static void l2tp_ip_destroy_sock(struct sock *sk)
 {
 	struct sk_buff *skb;
-	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel = l2tp_sock_to_tunnel(sk);
+	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel = sk->sk_user_data;
 
 	while ((skb = __skb_dequeue_tail(&sk->sk_write_queue)) != NULL)
 		kfree_skb(skb);
 
-	if (tunnel) {
-		l2tp_tunnel_closeall(tunnel);
-		sock_put(sk);
-	}
-
-	sk_refcnt_debug_dec(sk);
+	if (tunnel)
+		l2tp_tunnel_delete(tunnel);
 }
 
 static int l2tp_ip_bind(struct sock *sk, struct sockaddr *uaddr, int addr_len)
diff --git a/net/l2tp/l2tp_ip6.c b/net/l2tp/l2tp_ip6.c
index 192344688c06..6f009eaa5fbe 100644
--- a/net/l2tp/l2tp_ip6.c
+++ b/net/l2tp/l2tp_ip6.c
@@ -248,16 +248,14 @@ static void l2tp_ip6_close(struct sock *sk, long timeout)
 
 static void l2tp_ip6_destroy_sock(struct sock *sk)
 {
-	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel = l2tp_sock_to_tunnel(sk);
+	struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel = sk->sk_user_data;
 
 	lock_sock(sk);
 	ip6_flush_pending_frames(sk);
 	release_sock(sk);
 
-	if (tunnel) {
-		l2tp_tunnel_closeall(tunnel);
-		sock_put(sk);
-	}
+	if (tunnel)
+		l2tp_tunnel_delete(tunnel);
 
 	inet6_destroy_sock(sk);
 }
