diff --git a/net/rds/tcp.c b/net/rds/tcp.c
index 5327d130c4b5..8015d2695784 100644
--- a/net/rds/tcp.c
+++ b/net/rds/tcp.c
@@ -493,6 +493,15 @@ void rds_tcp_tune(struct socket *sock)
 	struct net *net = sock_net(sk);
 	struct rds_tcp_net *rtn = net_generic(net, rds_tcp_netid);
 
+	/* TCP timer functions might access net namespace even after
+	 * a process which created this net namespace terminated.
+	 */
+	if (!sk->sk_net_refcnt) {
+		sk->sk_net_refcnt = 1;
+		get_net_track(net, &sk->ns_tracker, GFP_KERNEL);
+		sock_inuse_add(net, 1);
+	}
+
 	tcp_sock_set_nodelay(sock->sk);
 	lock_sock(sk);
 	if (rtn->sndbuf_size > 0) {