diff --git a/kernel/posix-cpu-timers.c b/kernel/posix-cpu-timers.c
index ad85d3f0dcc4..7a51a5597c33 100644
--- a/kernel/posix-cpu-timers.c
+++ b/kernel/posix-cpu-timers.c
@@ -424,6 +424,7 @@ static void cleanup_timers(struct list_head *head,
 	cputime_t ptime = cputime_add(utime, stime);
 
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(timer, next, head, entry) {
+		put_task_struct(timer->task);
 		timer->task = NULL;
 		list_del_init(&timer->entry);
 		if (cputime_lt(timer->expires.cpu, ptime)) {
@@ -436,6 +437,7 @@ static void cleanup_timers(struct list_head *head,
 
 	++head;
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(timer, next, head, entry) {
+		put_task_struct(timer->task);
 		timer->task = NULL;
 		list_del_init(&timer->entry);
 		if (cputime_lt(timer->expires.cpu, utime)) {
@@ -448,6 +450,7 @@ static void cleanup_timers(struct list_head *head,
 
 	++head;
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(timer, next, head, entry) {
+		put_task_struct(timer->task);
 		timer->task = NULL;
 		list_del_init(&timer->entry);
 		if (timer->expires.sched < sched_time) {