diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/devx.c b/drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/devx.c
index bceae1c1f980..843dcd312242 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/devx.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/devx.c
@@ -1958,6 +1958,7 @@ subscribe_event_xa_alloc(struct mlx5_devx_event_table *devx_event_table,
 			/* Level1 is valid for future use, no need to free */
 			return -ENOMEM;
 
+		INIT_LIST_HEAD(&obj_event->obj_sub_list);
 		err = xa_insert(&event->object_ids,
 				key_level2,
 				obj_event,
@@ -1966,7 +1967,6 @@ subscribe_event_xa_alloc(struct mlx5_devx_event_table *devx_event_table,
 			kfree(obj_event);
 			return err;
 		}
-		INIT_LIST_HEAD(&obj_event->obj_sub_list);
 	}
 
 	return 0;