diff --git a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
index 1e7e3f2ff09f..ebee0ad559fa 100644
--- a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
+++ b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
@@ -1368,9 +1368,14 @@ static int cpufreq_online(unsigned int cpu)
 			goto out_free_policy;
 		}
 
+		/*
+		 * The initialization has succeeded and the policy is online.
+		 * If there is a problem with its frequency table, take it
+		 * offline and drop it.
+		 */
 		ret = cpufreq_table_validate_and_sort(policy);
 		if (ret)
-			goto out_exit_policy;
+			goto out_offline_policy;
 
 		/* related_cpus should at least include policy->cpus. */
 		cpumask_copy(policy->related_cpus, policy->cpus);
@@ -1513,6 +1518,10 @@ out_destroy_policy:
 
 	up_write(&policy->rwsem);
 
+out_offline_policy:
+	if (cpufreq_driver->offline)
+		cpufreq_driver->offline(policy);
+
 out_exit_policy:
 	if (cpufreq_driver->exit)
 		cpufreq_driver->exit(policy);