auth->au_flavor = flavor;
        atomic_set(&auth->au_count, 1);
 
-       err = rpcauth_init_credcache(auth, GSS_CRED_EXPIRE);
-       if (err)
-               goto err_put_mech;
-
        gss_auth->dentry = rpc_mkpipe(clnt->cl_dentry, gss_auth->mech->gm_name,
                        clnt, &gss_upcall_ops, RPC_PIPE_WAIT_FOR_OPEN);
        if (IS_ERR(gss_auth->dentry)) {
                goto err_put_mech;
        }
 
+       err = rpcauth_init_credcache(auth, GSS_CRED_EXPIRE);
+       if (err)
+               goto err_unlink_pipe;
+
        return auth;
+err_unlink_pipe:
+       rpc_unlink(gss_auth->dentry);
 err_put_mech:
        gss_mech_put(gss_auth->mech);
 err_free: