diff --git a/net/sched/cls_u32.c b/net/sched/cls_u32.c
index f218ccf1..b2c3406 100644
--- a/net/sched/cls_u32.c
+++ b/net/sched/cls_u32.c
@@ -398,6 +398,7 @@
 	rcu_assign_pointer(tp_c->hlist, root_ht);
 	root_ht->tp_c = tp_c;
 
+	root_ht->refcnt++;
 	rcu_assign_pointer(tp->root, root_ht);
 	tp->data = tp_c;
 	return 0;
@@ -610,7 +611,7 @@
 	struct tc_u_hnode __rcu **hn;
 	struct tc_u_hnode *phn;
 
-	WARN_ON(ht->refcnt);
+	WARN_ON(--ht->refcnt);
 
 	u32_clear_hnode(tp, ht, extack);
 
@@ -649,7 +650,7 @@
 
 	WARN_ON(root_ht == NULL);
 
-	if (root_ht && --root_ht->refcnt == 0)
+	if (root_ht && --root_ht->refcnt == 1)
 		u32_destroy_hnode(tp, root_ht, extack);
 
 	if (--tp_c->refcnt == 0) {
@@ -698,7 +699,6 @@
 	}
 
 	if (ht->refcnt == 1) {
-		ht->refcnt--;
 		u32_destroy_hnode(tp, ht, extack);
 	} else {
 		NL_SET_ERR_MSG_MOD(extack, "Can not delete in-use filter");
@@ -708,11 +708,11 @@
 out:
 	*last = true;
 	if (root_ht) {
-		if (root_ht->refcnt > 1) {
+		if (root_ht->refcnt > 2) {
 			*last = false;
 			goto ret;
 		}
-		if (root_ht->refcnt == 1) {
+		if (root_ht->refcnt == 2) {
 			if (!ht_empty(root_ht)) {
 				*last = false;
 				goto ret;