diff --git a/fs/mqueue/mq_unlink.c b/fs/mqueue/mq_unlink.c
index 679b47e0588..a0a5afeae4c 100644
--- a/fs/mqueue/mq_unlink.c
+++ b/fs/mqueue/mq_unlink.c
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ static void mq_inode_release(FAR struct inode *inode)
           nxmq_free_msgq(msgq);
           inode->i_private = NULL;
         }
+
+      inode_release(inode);
     }
 }