diff --git a/RELEASENOTES.md b/RELEASENOTES.md
index 078f53df86..2ace17dc48 100644
--- a/RELEASENOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASENOTES.md
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@
     *   Fix bug in `MediaCodecVideoRenderer` that resulted in re-using a
         released `Surface` when playing without an app-provided `Surface`
         ([#9476](https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/issues/9476)).
+*   DRM:
+    *   Log an error (instead of throwing `IllegalStateException`) when calling
+        `DefaultDrmSession#release()` on a fully released session
+        ([#9392](https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/issues/9392)).
 *   Android 12 compatibility:
     *   Keep `DownloadService` started and in the foreground whilst waiting for
         requirements to be met on Android 12. This is necessary due to new
diff --git a/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/drm/DefaultDrmSession.java b/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/drm/DefaultDrmSession.java
index 5e5bce8340..fff8ab9e7b 100644
--- a/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/drm/DefaultDrmSession.java
+++ b/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/drm/DefaultDrmSession.java
@@ -296,7 +296,10 @@ import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.RequiresNonNull;
 
   @Override
   public void acquire(@Nullable DrmSessionEventListener.EventDispatcher eventDispatcher) {
-    checkState(referenceCount >= 0);
+    if (referenceCount < 0) {
+      Log.e(TAG, "Session reference count less than zero: " + referenceCount);
+      referenceCount = 0;
+    }
     if (eventDispatcher != null) {
       eventDispatchers.add(eventDispatcher);
     }
@@ -320,7 +323,10 @@ import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.RequiresNonNull;
 
   @Override
   public void release(@Nullable DrmSessionEventListener.EventDispatcher eventDispatcher) {
-    checkState(referenceCount > 0);
+    if (referenceCount <= 0) {
+      Log.e(TAG, "release() called on a session that's already fully released.");
+      return;
+    }
     if (--referenceCount == 0) {
       // Assigning null to various non-null variables for clean-up.
       state = STATE_RELEASED;