diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c
index 72cf86253c0cd..a00ae98ed0956 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c
@@ -542,7 +542,13 @@ int of_drm_get_panel_orientation(const struct device_node *np,
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(of_drm_get_panel_orientation);
 #endif
 
-/* Find panel by fwnode. This should be identical to of_drm_find_panel(). */
+/*
+ * Find panel by fwnode, returning a counted reference.
+ *
+ * Behaves identically to of_drm_find_panel(). On success the returned
+ * pointer has been passed through drm_panel_get(); the caller must call
+ * drm_panel_put() when done with it.
+ */
 static struct drm_panel *find_panel_by_fwnode(const struct fwnode_handle *fwnode)
 {
 	struct drm_panel *panel;
@@ -554,6 +560,7 @@ static struct drm_panel *find_panel_by_fwnode(const struct fwnode_handle *fwnode
 
 	list_for_each_entry(panel, &panel_list, list) {
 		if (dev_fwnode(panel->dev) == fwnode) {
+			drm_panel_get(panel);
 			mutex_unlock(&panel_lock);
 			return panel;
 		}
@@ -690,6 +697,7 @@ void drm_panel_remove_follower(struct drm_panel_follower *follower)
 	mutex_unlock(&panel->follower_lock);
 
 	put_device(panel->dev);
+	drm_panel_put(panel);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_panel_remove_follower);