diff --git a/gdk/gdkinternals.h b/gdk/gdkinternals.h
index c6173a747f..d9fa2c000a 100644
--- a/gdk/gdkinternals.h
+++ b/gdk/gdkinternals.h
@@ -280,6 +280,9 @@ extern gboolean   _gdk_disable_multidevice;
 void      _gdk_events_queue  (GdkDisplay *display);
 GdkEvent* _gdk_event_unqueue (GdkDisplay *display);
 
+void _gdk_event_filter_unref        (GdkWindow      *window,
+				     GdkEventFilter *filter);
+
 void   _gdk_event_emit               (GdkEvent   *event);
 GList* _gdk_event_queue_find_first   (GdkDisplay *display);
 void   _gdk_event_queue_remove_link  (GdkDisplay *display,
diff --git a/gdk/gdkwindow.c b/gdk/gdkwindow.c
index d5e5e1488d..da50f994d4 100644
--- a/gdk/gdkwindow.c
+++ b/gdk/gdkwindow.c
@@ -1794,19 +1794,55 @@ gdk_window_ensure_native (GdkWindow *window)
   return TRUE;
 }
 
+/**
+ * _gdk_event_filter_unref:
+ * @window: A #GdkWindow, or %NULL to be the global window
+ * @filter: A window filter
+ *
+ * Release a reference to @filter.  Note this function may
+ * mutate the list storage, so you need to handle this
+ * if iterating over a list of filters.
+ */
+void
+_gdk_event_filter_unref (GdkWindow       *window,
+			 GdkEventFilter  *filter)
+{
+  GList **filters;
+  GList *tmp_list;
+
+  if (window == NULL)
+    filters = &_gdk_default_filters;
+  else
+    filters = &window->filters;
+
+  for (tmp_list = *filters; tmp_list; tmp_list = tmp_list->next)
+    {
+      GdkEventFilter *iter_filter = tmp_list->data;
+      GList *node;
+
+      if (iter_filter != filter)
+	continue;
+
+      g_assert (iter_filter->ref_count > 0);
+
+      filter->ref_count--;
+      if (filter->ref_count != 0)
+	continue;
+
+      node = tmp_list;
+      tmp_list = tmp_list->next;
+
+      *filters = g_list_remove_link (*filters, node);
+      g_free (filter);
+      g_list_free_1 (node);
+    }
+}
+
 static void
 window_remove_filters (GdkWindow *window)
 {
-  if (window->filters)
-    {
-      GList *tmp_list;
-
-      for (tmp_list = window->filters; tmp_list; tmp_list = tmp_list->next)
-	g_free (tmp_list->data);
-
-      g_list_free (window->filters);
-      window->filters = NULL;
-    }
+  while (window->filters)
+    _gdk_event_filter_unref (window, window->filters->data);
 }
 
 static void
@@ -2486,16 +2522,8 @@ gdk_window_remove_filter (GdkWindow     *window,
       if ((filter->function == function) && (filter->data == data))
 	{
           filter->flags |= GDK_EVENT_FILTER_REMOVED;
-          filter->ref_count--;
-          if (filter->ref_count != 0)
-            return;
 
-	  if (window)
-	    window->filters = g_list_remove_link (window->filters, node);
-	  else
-	    _gdk_default_filters = g_list_remove_link (_gdk_default_filters, node);
-	  g_list_free_1 (node);
-	  g_free (filter);
+	  _gdk_event_filter_unref (window, filter);
 
 	  return;
 	}
diff --git a/gdk/x11/gdkeventsource.c b/gdk/x11/gdkeventsource.c
index 5f0c3a79e6..37275fb183 100644
--- a/gdk/x11/gdkeventsource.c
+++ b/gdk/x11/gdkeventsource.c
@@ -55,14 +55,17 @@ static GSourceFuncs event_funcs = {
 static GList *event_sources = NULL;
 
 static gint
-gdk_event_apply_filters (XEvent   *xevent,
-			 GdkEvent *event,
-			 GList   **filters)
+gdk_event_apply_filters (XEvent    *xevent,
+			 GdkEvent  *event,
+			 GdkWindow *window)
 {
   GList *tmp_list;
   GdkFilterReturn result;
 
-  tmp_list = *filters;
+  if (window == NULL)
+    tmp_list = _gdk_default_filters;
+  else
+    tmp_list = window->filters;
 
   while (tmp_list)
     {
@@ -78,18 +81,12 @@ gdk_event_apply_filters (XEvent   *xevent,
       filter->ref_count++;
       result = filter->function (xevent, event, filter->data);
 
-      /* get the next node after running the function since the
-         function may add or remove a next node */
-      node = tmp_list;
-      tmp_list = tmp_list->next;
+      /* Protect against unreffing the filter mutating the list */
+      node = tmp_list->next;
 
-      filter->ref_count--;
-      if (filter->ref_count == 0)
-        {
-          *filters = g_list_remove_link (*filters, node);
-          g_list_free_1 (node);
-          g_free (filter);
-        }
+      _gdk_event_filter_unref (window, filter);
+
+      tmp_list = node;
 
       if (result != GDK_FILTER_CONTINUE)
 	return result;
@@ -162,8 +159,7 @@ gdk_event_source_translate_event (GdkEventSource *event_source,
     {
       /* Apply global filters */
 
-      result = gdk_event_apply_filters (xevent, event,
-                                        &_gdk_default_filters);
+      result = gdk_event_apply_filters (xevent, event, NULL);
 
       if (result == GDK_FILTER_REMOVE)
         {
@@ -186,7 +182,7 @@ gdk_event_source_translate_event (GdkEventSource *event_source,
       if (filter_window->filters)
 	{
 	  result = gdk_event_apply_filters (xevent, event,
-					    &filter_window->filters);
+					    filter_window);
 
           if (result == GDK_FILTER_REMOVE)
             {