diff --git a/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c b/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c
index 71ffc35d5..5ad4a9165 100644
--- a/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c
+++ b/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c
@@ -2062,6 +2062,7 @@ nvme_bdev_create(struct nvme_ctrlr *nvme_ctrlr, struct nvme_ns *nvme_ns)
 			      nvme_ns->ns, nvme_ctrlr->prchk_flags, bdev);
 	if (rc != 0) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("Failed to create NVMe disk\n");
+		pthread_mutex_destroy(&bdev->mutex);
 		free(bdev);
 		return rc;
 	}