diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.c
index 598513f60449..f142f6310596 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.c
@@ -90,6 +90,14 @@ nouveau_channel_del(struct nouveau_channel **pchan)
 {
 	struct nouveau_channel *chan = *pchan;
 	if (chan) {
+		/*
+		 * Drop the kill-event subscription first.  Its handler
+		 * dereferences chan->fence, which the fence context teardown
+		 * below frees, so leaving it armed across the teardown leaves
+		 * a window for a use-after-free.
+		 */
+		nvif_event_dtor(&chan->kill);
+
 		if (chan->fence)
 			nouveau_fence(chan->cli->drm)->context_del(chan);
 
@@ -100,7 +108,6 @@ nouveau_channel_del(struct nouveau_channel **pchan)
 		nvif_object_dtor(&chan->nvsw);
 		nvif_object_dtor(&chan->gart);
 		nvif_object_dtor(&chan->vram);
-		nvif_event_dtor(&chan->kill);
 		nvif_object_dtor(&chan->user);
 		nvif_mem_dtor(&chan->mem_userd);
 		nouveau_vma_del(&chan->sema.vma);