diff --git a/drivers/staging/android/ion/ion.c b/drivers/staging/android/ion/ion.c
index 33f6f8f99039..0f37cbb20e54 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/android/ion/ion.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/android/ion/ion.c
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ int ion_free(struct ion_buffer *buffer)
 {
 	return ion_buffer_destroy(internal_dev, buffer);
 }
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(ion_free);
 
 static int ion_alloc_fd(size_t len, unsigned int heap_id_mask,
 			unsigned int flags)
diff --git a/include/linux/ion.h b/include/linux/ion.h
index 87aa2bcec7d3..88622fb8f9ea 100644
--- a/include/linux/ion.h
+++ b/include/linux/ion.h
@@ -293,6 +293,13 @@ int ion_buffer_zero(struct ion_buffer *buffer);
 struct dma_buf *ion_alloc(size_t len, unsigned int heap_id_mask,
 			  unsigned int flags);
 
+/**
+ * ion_free - Releases the ion buffer.
+ *
+ * @buffer:             ion buffer to be released
+ */
+int ion_free(struct ion_buffer *buffer);
+
 #else
 
 static inline int __ion_device_add_heap(struct ion_heap *heap,
@@ -357,5 +364,10 @@ static inline struct dma_buf *ion_alloc(size_t len, unsigned int heap_id_mask,
 	return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 }
 
+static inline int ion_free(struct ion_buffer *buffer)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+
 #endif /* CONFIG_ION */
 #endif /* _ION_KERNEL_H */