diff --git a/arch/powerpc/mm/pgtable_64.c b/arch/powerpc/mm/pgtable_64.c
index f6ce1f111f5b..3b3c4d34c7a0 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/mm/pgtable_64.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/mm/pgtable_64.c
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
 unsigned long ioremap_bot = IOREMAP_BASE;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_PPC_MMU_NOHASH
-static void *early_alloc_pgtable(unsigned long size)
+static __ref void *early_alloc_pgtable(unsigned long size)
 {
 	void *pt;