diff --git a/linker/linker.cpp b/linker/linker.cpp
index 79c3ac54e..b8dd216e7 100644
--- a/linker/linker.cpp
+++ b/linker/linker.cpp
@@ -462,13 +462,13 @@ ProtectedDataGuard::ProtectedDataGuard() {
   if (ref_count_++ == 0) {
     protect_data(PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE);
   }
-}
 
-ProtectedDataGuard::~ProtectedDataGuard() {
   if (ref_count_ == 0) { // overflow
     __libc_fatal("Too many nested calls to dlopen()");
   }
+}
 
+ProtectedDataGuard::~ProtectedDataGuard() {
   if (--ref_count_ == 0) {
     protect_data(PROT_READ);
   }