diff --git a/drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_legacy.c b/drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_legacy.c
index 08d191527020..4beaee384906 100644
--- a/drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_legacy.c
+++ b/drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_legacy.c
@@ -213,11 +213,10 @@ static const struct virtio_config_ops virtio_pci_config_ops = {
 
 static void virtio_pci_release_dev(struct device *_d)
 {
-	/*
-	 * No need for a release method as we allocate/free
-	 * all devices together with the pci devices.
-	 * Provide an empty one to avoid getting a warning from core.
-	 */
+	struct virtio_device *vdev = dev_to_virtio(_d);
+	struct virtio_pci_device *vp_dev = to_vp_device(vdev);
+
+	kfree(vp_dev);
 }
 
 /* the PCI probing function */
@@ -311,5 +310,4 @@ void virtio_pci_legacy_remove(struct pci_dev *pci_dev)
 	pci_iounmap(pci_dev, vp_dev->ioaddr);
 	pci_release_regions(pci_dev);
 	pci_disable_device(pci_dev);
-	kfree(vp_dev);
 }