diff --git a/drivers/staging/wilc1000/wilc_msgqueue.c b/drivers/staging/wilc1000/wilc_msgqueue.c
index f57e4ec3c742..5fe85eb40146 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/wilc1000/wilc_msgqueue.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/wilc1000/wilc_msgqueue.c
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ int wilc_mq_recv(struct message_queue *mq,
 
 	if (list_empty(&mq->msg_list)) {
 		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&mq->lock, flags);
+		up(&mq->sem);
 		PRINT_ER("msg is null\n");
 		return -EFAULT;
 	}