diff --git a/net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c b/net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c
index 79cd52974eb0..cdc7dff7054c 100644
--- a/net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c
+++ b/net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c
@@ -7522,10 +7522,12 @@ static void create_big_complete(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data, int err)
 	bt_dev_dbg(hdev, "err %d", err);
 
 	if (err == -ECANCELED)
-		return;
+		goto done;
 
-	if (hci_conn_valid(hdev, conn))
-		clear_bit(HCI_CONN_CREATE_BIG_SYNC, &conn->flags);
+	clear_bit(HCI_CONN_CREATE_BIG_SYNC, &conn->flags);
+
+done:
+	hci_conn_put(conn);
 }
 
 static int hci_le_big_create_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data)
@@ -7577,8 +7579,14 @@ int hci_connect_big_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, struct hci_conn *conn)
 {
 	int err;
 
-	err = hci_cmd_sync_queue_once(hdev, hci_le_big_create_sync, conn,
+	if (!conn)
+		return 0;
+
+	err = hci_cmd_sync_queue_once(hdev, hci_le_big_create_sync,
+				      hci_conn_get(conn),
 				      create_big_complete);
+	if (err)
+		hci_conn_put(conn);
 	return (err == -EEXIST) ? 0 : err;
 }