diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_context.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_context.c
index 9e8c68510e1bf..280617ef49964 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_context.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_context.c
@@ -274,6 +274,14 @@ void i915_gem_context_fini(struct drm_device *dev)
 	intel_gpu_reset(dev);
 
 	i915_gem_object_unpin(dctx->obj);
+
+	/* When default context is created and switched to, base object refcount
+	 * will be 2 (+1 from object creation and +1 from do_switch()).
+	 * i915_gem_context_fini() will be called after gpu_idle() has switched
+	 * to default context. So we need to unreference the base object once
+	 * to offset the do_switch part, so that i915_gem_context_unreference()
+	 * can then free the base object correctly. */
+	drm_gem_object_unreference(&dctx->obj->base);
 	i915_gem_context_unreference(dctx);
 }