rf() calls gss_svc_searchbyctx() which does a rsc_lookup() but never releases the reference to the context. There is another issue that rpc.svcgssd sets an "end of time" expiration for the context By adding a cache_put() call in gss_svc_searchbyctx(), and setting an expiration timeout in the downcall, cache_clean() does clean up the context and the module reference count now goes to zero after unmount. I also verified that if the context expires and then the client makes a new request, a new context is established. Here is the patch to fix the kernel, I will start a separate thread to discuss what expiration time should be set by rpc.svcgssd. Acked-by: "J. Bruce Fields" Signed-off-by: Frank Filz Signed-off-by: Neil Brown Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds