diff --git a/hw/net/virtio-net.c b/hw/net/virtio-net.c
index 5150f295e8..1c5af08dc5 100644
--- a/hw/net/virtio-net.c
+++ b/hw/net/virtio-net.c
@@ -862,6 +862,8 @@ static void failover_add_primary(VirtIONet *n, Error **errp)
         dev = qdev_device_add(opts, &err);
         if (err) {
             qemu_opts_del(opts);
+        } else {
+            object_unref(OBJECT(dev));
         }
     } else {
         error_setg(errp, "Primary device not found");